


CRISIS: A Royal Affair

by GanonFLCL



Series: CRISISverse [1]
Category: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Genre: Adventure, F/M, Implied Sexual Content, Minor Violence, Romance, Swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-25
Updated: 2019-09-25
Packaged: 2020-12-14 08:30:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 32,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21012818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GanonFLCL/pseuds/GanonFLCL
Summary: In an alternate Equestria, the city of Hope's Point stands as a beacon of light and hope against the darkness and misery of the world around it, ruled over by the ever-watchful, keen-minded, and iron-hoofed Queen Blackburn.But Blackburn wasn't always the queen of Hope's Point - she wasn't even its first ruler - and she wasn't always the hard-nosed mare with an eye for details. She was young once, too, just like everypony else, and just like them she had to make new friends, go to school, make mistakes, find love, and everything else that goes along with growing up, for better or worse, and that's not even counting her royal responsibilities.Witness the rise of Blackburn, Princess of Hope's Point, as she becomes the mare - the queen - she was always meant to be, as well as the friends and enemies she makes along the way.





	1. Precocious Princess

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place in the CRISIS-verse as a prequel to CRISIS: Equestria.
> 
> Many thanks to Devnator and BeeAre for their help in editing and as creative consultants.
> 
> Updates weekly.
> 
> Cover Art: https://www.deviantart.com/starlightspark/art/Crisis-A-Royal-Affair-Cover-813149786  
Artist: https://www.deviantart.com/starlightspark

The city of Hope’s Point was situated on the edge of a cliff on the farthest southern tip of the northern continent of Equestria. Not the Equestria that you may be familiar with, but a different Equestria, one governed by the dichotomy between the two halves of two wholes. In the south was the great Utopian continent, a land of light, harmony, love, and peace; to the north was the dark continent, a land of darkness, chaos, death, and violence. 

Despite being in the north, Hope’s Point was built as a gateway to the south, a literal beacon of hope to ponies that wanted better lives for themselves and their loved ones. To its north was the vast swath of dark, lifeless Wasteland, devoid of nearly any and all plant and animal life. To its south was the Sea of Endless Torment, a massive ocean that divided the world in two. From Hope’s Point one could just see the Belt of Tranquility, a magical storm stretched across the equator that prevented conventional travel across it.

Hope’s Point itself was, on the surface, a small city, large enough to house more than ten thousand ponies as well as commercial and service buildings to accommodate their needs. A magical energy field covered the city in a dome of gold, protecting it from the elements and, more importantly, from would-be invaders. Below the surface, however, the city took up a huge underground cavern, which housed all the residential neighborhoods, the city’s power plants, military and medical buildings, and the royal palace, home to the city’s leader and founder, King Flashfire.

Today, the royal palace was busier than it had been in several years. Banners of red and gold had been put up on both the surface and below, and most of the television stations were covering the event. A crowd of ponies had gathered around a large television set up in the city’s largest thoroughfare, where a news anchor - an orange earth pony stallion with a red mane, dressed in a crisp suit - was presenting the story to the audience.

“Today is a red letter day in Hope’s Point,” the anchor said, turning in his chair to look at the camera. “For the first time since our great city’s founding twenty years ago, we will be privy to the birth of royalty. Truly a great moment for the royal family to recover from the tragic passing of Queen Windwhisper just this past month.”

He turned in the chair again when the cameras switched, and a still image on the side of the screen showed a picture of a happy pegasus couple. The stallion had a light gray coat and an orange mane, and was handsome and charming; the mare’s coat was grayish-blue, and her mane was bi-colored dark blue and light purple. The two were walking together through one of the city streets, flanked by guards.

“Prince Stormchaser and his wife, Blue Blitz,” the anchor continued, “are reportedly the proud parents of a new foal as of eleven twenty-four this morning. Details are scarce, but our reporter in the field, Quartz Band, is outside the royal palace now covering the story as it happens. Quartz?”

The screen shifted to a reporter - a gold unicorn stallion with a blue mane - who was posted just outside the palace. “Thanks Tangerine.” He gestured behind him at the royal palace, a grand, red structure decorated with oranges and golds. “I’m here at the royal palace as we await word from King Flashfire himself with news on the royal birth. Our sources on the inside suggest that we can expect His Majesty within the next five minutes.”

He gestured to the side, and the camera panned over to show a crowd of ponies, some of whom were other reporters with their own camera crews. “As you can see, a large crowd has formed at the palace gates in anticipation of the reveal.”

The anchor, Tangerine, spoke: “Have you received any further information on the status of the newborn?”

Quartz shook his head. “As of yet, the only news we have is that the new foal is healthy, but we have not been given any other infor--” He paused, putting a hoof to his ear. A look of surprise crossed his face. “Oh! I’m now hearing that King Flashfire is about to make a statement. The moment of truth!” He and the camera turned to face the balcony closest to the palace gates.

After a moment, the doors to the balcony opened, and King Flashfire strode out. He was a tall pegasus stallion with a dark red coat and graying orange mane, wearing a black and silver jacket. Beside him was a personal bodyguard, a white unicorn stallion with a blue mane dressed in light, purple-and-gold metallic armor. The crowd below cheered as the king approached the balcony. A few pegasi camera operators flew up to record him; unicorn camera operators lifted their cameras up with their magic to do the same; the earth pony camera operators angled their cameras to get the best view they could from the ground.

As the king reached the edge of the balcony, he lifted his hoof up to silence the cheering crowd. “Citizens of Hope’s Point!” he announced, his voice loud and full of vigor. “Today marks a historic event for our great city. My dear son, Prince Stormchaser, is now a proud father of a foal of his own. This is a great moment for my family and for you, the ponies of this city.”

He took a deep breath. “After the passing of my dear Queen Windwhisper, the pall of death has brought despair to me and my family. May Harmonia rest her soul. If she were here today, none would be as ecstatic as she to bring new life into this world. It falls to me, your king, to present this grand event in her stead. Please welcome my son, your Prince Stormchaser, and his wife, Blue Blitz.”

He gestured to the door behind him, and from the doorway came Prince Stormchaser and Blue Blitz. Stormchaser wore a simple blue jacket, while Blue Blitz was wrapped in a pink blanket and was wheeled out in a wheelchair. She carried a small bundle with her that she delicately held close to her chest. They, too, were accompanied by a guard, a green unicorn mare with an orange mane dressed in light armor.

As they approached the edge of the balcony, Blue Blitz unwrapped the bundle so everypony could see the newborn foal she carried. The pegasus filly had a smoky black coat and a turquoise mane.

Prince Stormchaser nodded at his father. “Father. Thank you.”

Flashfire clapped his son on the shoulder. “Your daughter is a blessing upon this house, my son. Congratulations.”

Stormchaser addressed the crowd. “Ponies of Hope’s Point,” he announced, his voice confident and excited, “thank you all for being here for my wife and I as we bring our beautiful new foal into the world. As much as I’d love to give a speech, you’ve all been waiting long enough for the big moment. So, without further ado--”

He gestured to Blue Blitz, who smiled and lifted the newborn up for him to take. He took the foal gently, and carefully angled himself and her so that all the camera crews could see. “Presenting: Princess Blackburn!”

The little filly blinked up at the bright lights of the cameras. All eyes in the city were upon her in one way or another. She didn’t know it then, but for years to come this would not be an odd experience for her.

While Stormchaser presented his newborn daughter, Flashfire came behind Blue Blitz and put a hoof gently on her shoulder and leaned close to her ear. “You will be a good mother, Blue Blitz. You lack my son’s ambivalence and stupidity. Little Blackburn will learn from you, and from me. Not from him. Is that clear?”

Blue Blitz kept her eyes on her husband, who was laughing and giving their daughter all the attention she deserved, but nodded in response to the king’s question. “Of course, Your Majesty. You can count on me to raise her right.”

“That’s a good girl.” Flashfire rose back up and trotted back to his son. “Son, our subjects have had enough of our new princess for now.”

Stormchaser kept smiling at the crowd below. “I disagree, father. Look how much our ponies love my daughter. They could do with a little more excitement.”

Flashfire clapped his son on the shoulder. Hard. “Son. Inside. Now. You never know who could be watching.”

“Hmph. No need for the ‘royal treatment’. Very well, if you’re going to let your paranoia ruin this too.” Stormchaser looked out amongst the crowd and gave them a gentle wave. “Thank you, ponies of Hope’s Point! Thank you for welcoming little Blackburn into our great city!”

The crowd cheered again as Stormchaser passed Blackburn back to Blue Blitz, then wheeled her back into the palace. Flashfire stepped back to the balcony’s edge, waved his own farewell to the crowd, and then made his way back into the palace.

“And there you have it folks,” said Quartz Band into the camera. “The newborn Princess Blackburn has joined the ranks of the royal family. May Harmonia’s blessings be upon her as our city eagerly watches to see the kind of mare she grows up to be. This is Quartz Band, signing off.”

Eight Years Later

Princess Blackburn trotted through the halls of the royal palace, accompanied by a large earth pony stallion - yellow coat, red mane - in heavy armor: her bodyguard. She wore a too-long green-and-gold-striped scarf around her neck and a simple white dress, which didn’t hide that she had yet to earn her cutie mark; she wasn’t self-conscious about it. As she strolled by servants and guards in the palace, they acknowledged her presence with bows and salutes. Blackburn grinned and gave them little salutes of her own in return.

Blackburn and her guard came up to a large door flanked by two guards, who opened the door as soon as Blackburn approached. On the other side, Flashfire was having a tense meeting with two soldiers and his bodyguard. They turned to the door as Blackburn walked in, and Flashfire’s dour expression immediately softened.

“Grandpa!” Blackburn called as she ran up to him, excited and full of pep.

Flashfire leaned down to scoop her up and hugged her tightly. “Hey! There’s my little ray of sunshine. How are you today, my sweetheart?” He turned to the soldiers and gestured for them to leave. They did so with a salute, and closed the door behind them. Flashfire’s bodyguard remained and gave a nod to Blackburn’s; the two stepped over to the door to stand guard.

Blackburn hugged her grandfather back, rubbing her cheek against his. “I’m doing good, grandpa. How are you? You look so tired.” He tapped her hoof to the bags under his eyes.

“Just busy, my dear, just busy.”

“How come?”

Flashfire raised an eyebrow. “You’re being awfully curious today. Looking to learn a little something from your grandpa?” She nodded excitedly. He smiled back. “Well, there were a few attempted infiltrations over the weekend, so I’ve been meeting with my security agents to make some improvements to the process of letting ponies into the city. Those two are relaying some information from my friend Evening Glitz, who’s in charge of that sort of thing.”

“What kind of improvements, grandpa? Like more guards?”

“More guards doesn’t really help much here, unfortunately. The best we can do at the moment is to try and get better at spotting possible enemies of the city before they get in. Identify them before they get past the gate.”

Blackburn scrunched her nose. “How are you gonna do that? You said they look just like everypony else.”

Flashfire chuckled and booped her nose. “That they do, sweetheart. That’s why it’s so difficult for us to find them. We’re doing what we can, but it’s hard to keep tabs on everypony that might be coming in. There are enemies everywhere; never can be too careful.”

“So… you need like, a book of names of trustworthy ponies?”

Fireflash lifted her up and smiled. “That’s exactly it, sweetheart. We’re trying to put together a database of references so we can spot bad ponies, but it’s not easy and it’s taking a long time.” He sighed. “It’s my hope that by the time I’m gone, my family and my subjects won’t have fear of anypony ruining this great city.”

Blackburn released her grandfather and hopped back down to the floor. “I hope you do it, grandpa. When I'm the queen someday, I want everypony to be safe too, just like you!”

“I’m glad to hear that, sweetheart. You’re such a smart girl, maybe you’ll think of a way to make it happen.” He ruffled her mane. “Oh! That reminds me, I have a surprise for you!”

Blackburn gasped. “A surprise?! What is it?!”

Flashfire smiled and walked towards the door. “Follow me, sweetheart.” He turned to his bodyguard and nodded; the bodyguard nodded back and put a hoof to his ear, muttering something into his collar that Blackburn couldn’t hear.

Blackburn followed eagerly behind her grandfather through the royal palace, their bodyguards in tow. As they walked, taking flights of stairs and passing through halls, Flashfire spoke with his granddaughter. “Your mother tells me you’ve been taking an interest in flight training.”

Blackburn nodded excitedly. “Yup! When I get older, I wanna be the best pilot in the whole fleet!”

“And is your mother okay with that?

“Uh huh! She says I’ve got the perfect figure for stunt flying, just like her, so she’s been helping me get my wings up. I’ve been practicing, look!”

Blackburn began beating her tiny wings as fast as she could. Her scarf loosened and tumbled to the floor from all of two inches up; she couldn’t get very high, and she was clearly straining to stay afloat, keeping her eyes closed tight and biting her lip. After only a few seconds, she dropped to the ground, breathing hard, and picked up her scarf.

“See?” she huffed. “Momma says I’m a better flyer than most fillies and colts my age.”

“You certainly are, dear. You’re going to be a strong flyer when you get older.” Flashfire grinned and helped her put her scarf back on. “I’m glad your mother’s sharing her experience with you. You know she’s our top pilot?”

“Uh huh! She says when I get old enough, she’s gonna train me herself. Teach me how to do all the maneuvers and everything. I started reading about all the different kinds.” She closed her eyes as she tried to remember them. “There’s a loopdeloop, barrel roll, immelman, aileron scissors--” She bumped into a wall. “Oof!”

Flashfire laughed and patted Blackburn on the back. “I admire your dedication to your new hobby sweetheart, but don’t forget to keep your eyes forward. Don’t get distracted by your passions, lest you lose sight of what’s important.”

Blackburn rubbed her nose, embarrassed. “Right, grandpa, sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, just be careful. There’s no room in this life for regrets, sweetheart. The only way to succeed is to avoid failure in the first place, and to learn from those failures you cannot prevent.” He turned to the end of the hall and pointed at a door there. “Come, we’re almost to your surprise. It’s just inside that room.”

They approached the door, which led to a room on the opposite end of the palace from where they’d started. The room was mostly empty, save for a small desk and chair in the center - similar to those found in typical classrooms - and a large projector screen that dominated one of the walls. 

Blackburn entered first, looking around for something exciting. The screen drew her attention first, then the desk, which she eyed with curiosity. “Where’s the surprise, grandpa?” she asked, not seeing anything. “There’s nothing here.”

“Soon, my dear, just be patient,” Flashfire said as he entered the room. “Patience is as much of a virtue as caution. Take a seat at the desk for now.”

Blackburn did so. She shifted in her seat excitedly as she tried to get comfortable, then looked expectantly at Flashfire, waiting for the surprise.

A few moments later, another stallion entered the room, a unicorn with a reddish-pink coat and a short, pale gray mane, dressed in a tight white lab coat decorated with a red insignia. He bowed to Flashfire as he entered the room. “Greetings, your Majesty. You certainly summoned me far earlier than I initially expected or was led to believe.” He turned to see Blackburn seated at the desk. “Ah, I see the Princess is here as well. Wonderful.” He bowed to her as well. “It’s a pleasure to meet you at last, Princess Blackburn.”

Blackburn nodded with a small smile. “Hello.” She turned to Flashfire. “Who’s he, grandpa?”

Flashfire stepped over to the unicorn and clapped him proudly on the shoulder. “This is Solarian, a scholar and educator from Pandemonium that joined me in building our city. One of the most brilliant minds I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. He developed some of the technology we use for the city’s shield and our smaller-scale airships.”

“Your flattery is appreciated as always, sire,” Solarian said with a nod. “However, you forgot to mention my improvements to the city’s shipping database system, which is understandable since the developments aren’t as critical. Just thought I’d mention it.”

“Right, of course, I did forget that, ha ha,” Flashfire said with a chuckle. He turned back to Blackburn. “He also developed the flight system your mother uses. For a unicorn, his knowledge of pegasi anatomy and flight is exquisite. We’re lucky to have him.”

“Well I certainly can’t take full credit for that much, sire. I do owe a great deal of the development cycle to Briarpatch’s assistance since I had to ensure it’s synchronicity with the Diffusion system.”

Flashfire’s expression soured just slightly. “Certainly, I didn’t forget. Harmonia bless his soul.”

“It’s nice meeting you, Mister Solarian,” Blackburn said. “But, um… what’s this all about, grandpa? Why are we here in this room?”

Flashfire smiled at Blackburn. “Solarian here has agreed to be your personal tutor, sweetheart. I want you to have the best possible education, and Solarian is the best possible educator there is. You should be studying more than just flight maneuvers.”

“A tutor, grandpa? My surprise is… a tutor?” Blackburn stared at her desk in confusion. “But… what?”

“Your confusion is understandable, Princess Blackburn. From my understanding you have received no formal education of any kind thus far, but your grandfather decided it was time to correct that.” Solarian turned to Flashfire and tilted his head inquisitively. “Shall I proceed immediately, sire?”

“Naturally, Solarian, no sense in wasting time.” Flashfire stepped out of the door with his bodyguard, leaving Blackburn, her guard, and Solarian in the room together. “I’ll return when I’ve finished with my duties for the afternoon to check on you two before dinnertime. You’re invited of course.”

“Hmm, dinner with the king, what a marvelous experience. I might just indulge myself in your invitation, sire, thank you.”

“W-wait! Grandpa!” Blackburn sputtered. “You’re just gonna leave?”

“There’s no need for me to be here, sweetheart. Don’t worry, Solarian will instruct you in everything you’ll need to be a great queen some day - just pay attention to everything he says, and make use of it. Make me proud, okay?” Flashfire closed the door behind him and walked off, his hoofsteps getting quieter as he walked out of earshot.

Blackburn turned to Solarian, narrowing her eyes. “This surprise stinks, Mister Solarian. I was hoping for a new toy, or some candy or something...”

Solarian smirked. “It is a subversion of your expectations, which is an important tactic in battle as well as negotiations, political or otherwise. You’d do well to learn it, Princess. It provokes your enemy into making mistakes.” 

He moved to the projector screen and pulled an electronic tablet from his coat, tapping it to the screen. The screen flickered to life, displaying a variety of labeled folders and files. “Your desk contains all the material you’ll need for note-taking. Please utilize it as you see fit.”

Blackburn raised an eyebrow, then lifted up the top of her desk. Inside was a notebook and a selection of pens. She removed them and placed them on the top of the desk. “I have to take notes? C’mon…”

“I’ll be covering material at a fairly rapid pace. It would be advisable to take notes so that you may review them later when not in session and improve your performance.”

“How am I gonna take notes when you talk that way, Mister Solarian? It’s hard to understand you. Uh… no offense.”

Solarian raised an eyebrow. “You find my loquaciousness difficult to understand? I disagree, Princess, it’s actually quite simple if you really take the time and effort to evaluate it. Your father suggested that you take in all the information I am presenting and extract that which is pertinent.”

Blackburn took a deep breath. “Okay… I’ll try.”

“Wonderful. Let us proceed.” He clicked his hoof on his tablet, changing the display on the projector to a slideshow presentation. “Our first lesson will cover the history of Hope’s Point. The city was founded thirty years ago, give or take a few months and some days, when your grandfather, King Flashfire, traveled down here to the southern tip of the continent with a contingent of like-minded individuals with a dream: escaping the city of New Pandemonium and creating a safe harbor for ponies looking to do the same.

“They began with the underground cavern in order to construct the power station that fuels the protective shield around the city, which as noted I helped develop and based on the defensive shield system utilized by the New Pandemonium Air Force’s heavy cruisers. Once the underground facilities were established, work also began on the docks beneath the cliff and the city on the surface.” He paused and stomped his hoof. “Princess, sum up the information as presented thus far.”

Blackburn snapped to attention in a panic. “Oh… um… sure, okay…” She looked at her notes. “Um… Thirty years ago, grandpa came down south here to the tip of the continent from New Pandemonium with a conteng… a contingent of other ponies--”

Solarian stomped his hoof again. “You’re just repeating what I said, Princess, only with slight modifications to lower the complexity of my word choices. As I and your grandfather have stated, you must condense the information presented to a clear, concise point.” He took a breath. “Again.”

Blackburn furrowed her brow. “But… but I--”

“Again, Princess.”

Two Years Later

The classroom was, as usual, only occupied by thee ponies: Princess Blackburn, her tutor Solarian, and her bodyguard, still the same from when she was younger; like her grandfather, she’d never switched her personal guard. Her father was notorious for requesting a changing of his guard every few weeks. Most of the guards considered serving Prince Stormchaser a rite of passage.

“--and it should be noted that though Newhaven is only the second-largest port on the Utopian continent, House Sky has been making great strides in their connections with traders from Hope’s Point in an effort to increase their influence both with us and with their fellow noble houses.” Solarian took a deep breath, shutting off the projector. He hadn’t changed a bit in the past two years. “And that concludes today’s lesson. Repeat the key points for me please, Princess.”

Princess Blackburn, meanwhile, had grown up just a little. Her wings were larger and healthier, and she’d taken to wearing less feminine clothing; she still wore her too-long green-and-gold striped scarf, but now wore a white jacket that covered most of her body. Her flank was barely exposed, showing off just the barest hints of her cutie mark: a black crown surrounded by blue flames. It didn’t take a genius to figure out it’s meaning.

She took a breath. “Utopian noble houses number eleven at present: Houses Dawn, Flower, Golden, Green, Light, Night, Silver, Sky, Snow, Waters, Wind. Three most prolific: Silver, Waters, and Snow. House Silver retains importance from ancient times, regarded as heroic bloodline, deep connection with Harmonia; House Water controls Seaside, largest port on coast; House Snow has strong ties with Zeb’ra’den. House Sky making strides, established connections with Hope’s Point traders in Newhaven, next largest port.”

Solarian nodded. “Excellent. As an additional point, House Wind and House Sky are the most likely rivals for Hope’s Point attention. Competition breeds innovation, so it might be worth considering either house at this point, which I have noted often to the King. He has expressed some interest.”

He took a deep breath. “Now, to test your lessons on extrapolating information. I will give you a statement, but utilize much more terse language. It will be based upon today’s lesson, so you will be using your knowledge to point out connections. Ready?”

Blackburn nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“Ahem.” Solarian adjusted his coat collar. “I work in Deepgrove’s A-level mines as a supervisor. Last week I went on vacation, met a nice lady named Skytrader. Talked shop a bit. I think she might be interested in buying a few crates of gems.”

Blackburn paused and considered it. “Supervise A-level mine, implies position of power: likely works for House Golden. Contact with a member of House Sky, Skytrader; Skytrader wants gems to trade with Hope’s Point, key component in power generation. House Sky also seeking trade alliance with House Golden.”

Solarian smiled and nodded. “Good, good. All correct. You’re getting better, Princess, much better.” A knock came at the door. “Enter!” Solarian called.

King Flashfire open the door and strode into the room with his bodyguard, a small grin on his face. “Solarian. All done with Blackburn’s lessons for today?”

“Yes. Precise timing, sire, we’ve just concluded today’s lessons.”

“Excellent. There’s much to do tonight, but I didn’t want to interrupt. Glad to see my timing is impeccable as always” Flashfire then turned to Blackburn. “How are your lessons progressing, sweetheart?”

Blackburn smiled and rose from her seat. She approached him and leapt up to give him a hug. “Very well, grandpa, thank you. Master Solarian says that I’m progressing well.”

Solarian nodded. “Indeed, she’s an excellent student. Eager to learn, eager to impress. She’ll do well in her future, mark my words.” He turned to Blackburn. “Go on, tell him what you’ve learned today, Princess.”

Blackburn cleared her throat and recited her notes from memory. “Utopian noble houses number eleven at present: Houses Dawn, Flower, Golden, Green, Light, Night, Silver, Sky, Snow, Waters, Wind. Three most prolific: Silver, Waters, and Snow--”

Flashfire smirked at the tutor. “She’s certainly learned how to condense the details, hasn’t she?”

Blackburn blushed and scuffed her hoof on the floor. “Oh… s-sorry, grandpa. I… I’ve been so used to doing it in class for reciting notes, so I thought--

Flashfire smiled and put his hoof on her shoulder. “No need to apologize, my little ray of sunshine. One day, when you’re the smartest mare in the room, ponies will wish they could talk like you. But I digress - there’s business to attend to.” He turned to Blackburn’s bodyguard and gave him a slight nod. “Livewire, you are dismissed from your current duties, effective immediately.”

The bodyguard, Livewire, raised an eyebrow. “Your Majesty?”

“I’ve got a new assignment for you: an ambassador from House Snow of Utopia is visiting in a few hours, and I’d like a solid security detail to keep her safe. She’s looking to see how our city might fit in with possible trade routes with the zebras, so her detail is to escort her from place to place, show her around the city. I want you on it.”

“Me, sire?”

“Yes, Livewire, you. There aren’t many bodyguards in my employ that I’d trust with this sort of assignment. Are you unwilling to take it?”

“No, sire, I will do as you ask,” Livewire said, bowing low. “But… what of the princess?”

Flashfire turned to Blackburn and gave her a smile. “I have a new detail to assign to her, and your worry is appreciated. You have your orders, Livewire. Report to Hangar Six.”

Livewire nodded. “Aye, sire.” He gave Blackburn a nod. “Princess. It has been a pleasure serving you.”

“Livewire,” Blackburn said, returning the nod. Livewire left the room and headed down the hall outside. She turned to Flashfire. “I don’t understand, grandpa. Livewire’s proven capable over the years. You mentioned a new bodyguard assignment?”

“Yes indeed, sweetheart.” Flashfire turned to the door. “You may enter now.”

Two young ponies, roughly Blackburn’s age, entered the room nervously. One, a short unicorn filly, had a pale pink coat and bright orange mane; she kept her mane out of her face with a pair of safety goggles, and wore a purple jumpsuit. The other, a taller earth pony colt, had a light brown coat and dark brown mane, and wore light, metallic, bronze-colored armor.

Blackburn raised an eyebrow. “Hey… you two look familiar…” she murmured. She thought for a moment, then it all came together. “You guys sat next to me at the New Year’s Banquet.” She pointed at the filly. “You really liked the spicy peppers. Gadget?” She then pointed at the colt. “And you’re from Newhaven. Um… Crossfire?”

The two young ponies looked impressed, but didn’t say anything.

Flashfire smiled brightly. “Very good, very good. I noticed that you three hit it off pretty well, and that made them perfect for this assignment.” He looked down to the young ponies. “Go ahead you two, reintroduce yourselves and your qualifications,” he told them.

The filly stepped forward first, and bowed to Blackburn. “That’s right, Princess, my name is Gadget.” She rose back up and smiled brightly. “I’m a tech specialist and engineer.” She pulled a small gun-like weapon from her holster with her magic. “And this baby is my SP-100. Made it myself. I’m not allowed to use projectile rounds - not after the, uh… incident - so this sweet thing fires a stun pulse strong enough to knock out even the hardiest of earth ponies.”

Blackburn hummed. “SP… Stun Pistol? That’s a neat abbreviation. What’s this ‘incident’... wait, there’s that rumor of an accident on the firing range two weeks ago. You studied under Chief Engineer Spark Plug?”

Gadget blinked. “Uh, yeah. I did. How did you--”

“A simple observation. Spark Plug was testing new rifle for earth pony soldiers. Nopony was hurt. However, there were several thousand bits in damages.”

Gadget turned red and rubbed her neck. “Uh… yeah. Golly, you’re good, princess.”

Blackburn turned to the colt. “And you?”

The colt stepped up and bowed as well. “Like ya said, my name’s Crossfire, Yer Princessfulness, and I’m a weapon specialist. A pleasure ta meet ya. Uh… again. Yeah, I’m from Newhaven. Mah parents’ve served House Sky fer generations, an’ now--”

“They’re looking to strengthen relations with Hope’s Point, so they’re serving the royal family. Understandable. We covered that in today’s lesson, in fact.” Blackburn nodded appreciatively. “You’re a weapon expert? That’s kinda odd for anyone from Utopia, even if you’re not from city proper. It’s a mostly pacifist society, apart from the Harmony Guard, isn’t it?”

Crossfire smirked. “Pa’s been showin’ me how ta work some o’ the weapons y’all use here, ma’am. I guess I just took to it like a duck ta water, so I signed up ta join the guard.” He turned to grin at Gadget. “I ain’t been banned from practice rounds, neither.”

Gadget rolled her eyes and fixed her stun pistol in his direction. “Keep talking, bud, and you’ll be drooling on the floor in a few seconds.”

“Try it, horn face,” Crossfire huffed.

Blackburn smiled at the two. “A pleasure to meet you. Uh, again.” She turned to Flashfire. “These are the new bodyguards, grandpa? But… they’re so young and inexperienced - no offense,” she added, looking to the two younger ponies apologetically. “I’m not sure I understand.”

Flashfire smirked. “Correct, they are to be your new bodyguards. They’ve undergone their basic training and have proven quite capable so far, and I trust them to do their job well. Additionally, I think you should have ponies your own age around you, rather than only hanging around us adults. And since you three hit it off at New Year’s...”

“Still not getting it...”

“I wanted you to perhaps develop a friendship with your bodyguards, not just a professional relationship. Livewire was qualified as a protector, certainly, but he was older than you by several years and would never have imagined being more to you than a guard. Certainly not a friend in the truest terms. He’d give it a try, sure, but--”

Blackburn raised an eyebrow. “Friends, grandpa? Aren’t… aren’t we friends?”

Flashfire smiled warmly and pulled his granddaughter in for a hug. “Oh of course we are, my little ray of sunshine. We’re the best of friends. But… you need friends your own age too.” He stepped over to his bodyguard and put a hoof around his shoulder. “I’ve told you how long Shining Steel has been with me, haven’t I?”

Blackburn pondered it only for a few seconds. “You became friends while serving in NPAF. He joined you on the journey to establish Hope’s Point and served as your security expert in the initial construction, at least until Evening Glitz came along.”

“That’s right.” He gave Shining Steel a light tap on the shoulder. “But no matter how loyal every guard in this palace is to me, or to you, they could never be as loyal to you as a true friend, like Shining and I are. A true friend is so loyal to you that they don’t just follow orders because you’re the princess or queen, but because they believe in what you’re asking of them. And if they don’t, they’ll correct you. Guide you. You’ll be stronger for it.”

Blackburn eyed the two new bodyguards. “Point made. Okay. You two will be my new… friends.” She gave them a slight smile. “I will try. We will try. Together.” She turned to Solarian. “Master Solarian, am I dismissed for today?”

Solarian nodded. “You are dismissed, princess.”

Blackburn turned to her grandfather. “Grandpa, are you free for dinner? I have plenty of free time with my lessons concluded.”

Flashfire smirked. “For you, my dear, of course. There’s always time for my little ray of sunshine.” He turned to Shining Steel and started out of the room with a wide smile. “Come, Shining, we’ve got a date with the princess. This is a red letter day.”

“Magnificent, sire,” Shining said with a nod, following behind.

Blackburn turned to Gadget and Crossfire. “Gadget. Crossfire. Shall we?”

“Of course, princess,” Gadget said with a nod.

“Roger that, Yer Princessfulness,” Crossfire said with a salute.

Two Years, Six Months Later

Every year, Hope’s Point held an air show and festival for its citizens to enjoy, a display of the skill of the pilots that made up the city’s fleet, and of the royal family’s generosity and love for the citizens. The streets of the city’s surface were crowded with ponies attending the festivities present: stands of food, drinks, gifts, toys, clothes, and other souvenirs; stages set up for entertainment in the form of plays, music, and dancing; booths set up with games that tested luck and skill; and ride contraptions to excite and thrill, including a ferris wheel, a carousel, and a miniature roller coaster.

Princess Blackburn strolled through the crowd amongst the ponies of Hope’s Point, dressed in a gray hooded jacket without her scarf to conceal her identity. At her side were Gadget and Crossfire, also in hooded jackets - blue and purple, respectively - as the identities of the princess’s bodyguards were well known and would obviously reveal who the mysterious third pony was without question. Gadget carried with her a plush blue bear as big as she was.

Without their usual garb, Gadget and Crossfire’s cutie marks were plain to see: Gadget’s was a simple steel combination wrench; Crossfire’s, a black-and-white crosshair.

Blackburn stopped at a food stand selling sliced pineapples on a stick, coated with colorful red and orange seasoning. She eagerly took one from the stand’s operator and passed him the bits needed to pay for it, took a bite and let out an ecstatic, “Mmmm”, then turned to Gadget and offered her some. “Gadget, try some of this. It’s delicious.”

Gadget eyed the pineapple and gave it a sniff. “Ooh, smells spicy.” She leaned up and took a bite, then nodded approvingly as she chewed. “Oh yeah, spicy. Love it. Golly, that’s real pineapple too. Good find, Blackburn.” She turned to Crossfire. “Hey Crossfire, you gotta try this. It’s amazing.”

Crossfire scoffed. “Y’all know I hate pineapple, Gadget. Makes my tongue all itchy.” He shook his head and looked out towards the other food stands. “Ain’t there any bean stands? I could go fer a plate full o’ lima beans.” He turned to Blackburn with a smile. “Did I ever tell ya ‘bout this bean joint in Newhaven? Legume’s Legumes, real classy place, been around fer two generations. Best lima beans in all the south, yessir.”

“Haven’t tried lima beans,” Blackburn mused. “Don’t think we get much call for it in the city. Haven’t seen a stand.” She raised her head up to look out at the stands as well. “What do lima beans taste like?”

“Kinda starchy, like taters, but they got a buttery texture to ‘em. Y’know, real soft like, easy ta chew. My ma mixes ‘em wit’ tomatahs ‘n’ onions, calls it succotash.” He licked his lips. “Mmm mmm, I could really go fer a plate o’ that right about now.”

Gadget shook her head in disbelief. “There’re like fifty stands out here serving all kinds of food from all over the world, and all you can think about is some dang beans?” She gripped the pineapple stick in her magic and took another bite. “You’ve gotta expand your horizons there, Crossfire. Branch your palate out a bit.”

“Agreed,” Blackburn said with a nod, yanking the pineapple back over to her and taking a bite. “You’re too picky. You eat the same things all the time when we get real food: beans, tomatoes, potatoes. Boring.”

“Hey now, it ain’t like I just eat those three things an’ nothin’ else,” Crossfire huffed defensively. “I have ‘em prepared in different ways at least, ain’t like I’m eatin’ ‘em plain or nothin’ like that.”

“Fair.”

“Fair schmare. Look over there,” Gadget said, gesturing to a stand on the opposite side of the street. The stand was selling candied fruits. “Tell me you’re not gonna go try some candied oranges with us. Go on, I dare you.”

“Candied oranges sound mighty nice, actually,” Crossfire hummed.

“Then it’s decided.” Blackburn nodded and led them towards the other stand, passing a collection of bits to the stand operator while Gadget floated three cups of candied oranges over to herself. Blackburn turned and held out an expectant hoof; Gadget placed one cup in it. Blackburn lifted the cup up, took one of the candied orange slices in her mouth, and ate it. She rolled her eyes up into her head and smiled. “Wow, that’s yummy.”

Crossfire took a cup for himself and ate one slice. His eyes widened. "Hoo-ee, that there's a right treat, I tell ya what. Ain't like no candy I ever tried before."

“Well if it's got Mister Picky himself singing it's praises...” Gadget ate one of hers, then closed her eyes and hummed in appreciation. “Oh. Oh wow. There’s a party in my mouth, Blackburn, and everypony’s invited. Golly. Golly.” She grabbed some more oranges from her cup and stuffed them in her mouth. 

“Ya got a bit o’ drool right there, Gadget,” Crossfire laughed, tapping the left side of his chin. Gadget blushed, and lifted her own hoof up to wipe the offending liquid. “There ya go.”

Blackburn giggled. “Take it easy. They’re good, not good enough to be sloppy.” She turned towards the end of the street, gesturing with her hoof. “Come on, let's observe the entertainment venues. I heard there are good shows this year.”

The trio trotted down the street full of food vendors and rounded a corner, coming to another, wider street where small stages or spaces had been set up for all sorts of performers. Some were playing musical instruments: a chubby earth pony stallion was playing bongo drums; a small jazz band made up of various ponies played an upbeat tune; a unicorn mare played a large harp and sang a lovely song.

Some performers were dancing: a pegasus mare tap-danced on a stage barely large enough for her; a pair of earth pony stallions with big beards, wearing kilts, stomped around in a frenzied circle. Some performers were putting on plays such as a small troupe putting on a show from a popular tragedy; a yellow earth pony mare with a curly purple mane was performing stand-up comedy; a unicorn stallion was putting on a puppet show for younger ponies, depicting a heroic stallion saving a beautiful damsel from a monster of the Wasteland.

At the far end of the street, however, a larger stage had been set up, and it was this stage that Blackburn and her entourage headed for. They pushed their way to the front of the crowd just over to the side. They were just in time to catch the end of the previous show as the announcer, a lanky earth pony stallion with a golden brown coat and dark brown mane, thanked the crowd. The previous performer, a brown-coated earth pony mare with a light gray bowl-cut mane, bowed to the audience as she shuffled off.

“Thank you, Rockcrusher, that was quite a performance!” called the announcer as he came on stage from behind the curtain. “Okay folks, our next performer hails all the way from Pandemonium City. Let’s give a warm welcome to The Amazing Accolade!”

The announcer stepped back off stage and let the next performer step from behind the curtain. She was an icy blue unicorn mare with a dapper black tuxedo and top hat covering her white mane, and as she strode out onto the stage she twirled a little black wand with her magic. The crowd applauded generously; some ponies cheered.

“Greetings, ponies of Hope’s Point!” she said with a flourish and a bow. “Prepare yourselves for the greatest show in Equestria, as I, The Amazing Accolade, display the finest feats of magic you’ve ever seen!”

With another flourish, the stage exploded with glittering puffs of smoke and sparks. Several ponies in the crowd clapped excitedly, especially the younger fillies and colts. Crossfire was particularly enthusiastic; Blackburn not quite as much, but she still clapped and smiled. Gadget was considerably less impressed.

Accolade tossed her wand in the air with a twirl, removed her hat, set it on the stage, then caught her wand in one swift series of motions. “Behold!” She lifted her hat up to show the insides to the crowd. “The Amazing Accolade’s hat is empty! Or… is it?!” 

She twirled the hat through the air, set it back on the stage, and tapped it three times. Another Accolade’s head poked out of the hat and stared out at the crowd, then hopped up out of the hat and stood on stage beside the first; she, too, was dressed in a tuxedo and carried a wand, but did not have her own hat.

The two Accolades spoke in unison. “Voila! Double the Accolade, double the magic!” Another flourish of their wands together, and the hat in between them spewed a torrent of sparklers into the air.

Another round of applause went through the crowd.

Gadget rolled her eyes. “Simple doppelganger spell, nothing fancy.”

“Still impressive,” Blackburn noted. “Doppelganger spells are more advanced magic, not easy to perform even for talented unicorns. Impressive, no?”

“Yeah, maybe, but it’s still not particularly impressive. Certainly not ‘finest feat of magic’ level like she says. That would require something like teleportation or transmogrification spells.”

“Can y’all do that there doppel… dufflel… ugh, double magic, Gadget?” Crossfire asked with a smug grin. “Or how ‘bout any o’ those other spells y’all just mentioned?”

Gadget paused, narrowed her eyes at him. “No.”

“Then let the mare show off her magic. It’s entertainin’, ain’t it?” He gestured into the crowd. “Everypony here seems ta like it.”

“It’s just regular unicorn magic!” Gadget sputtered. “Even all the flourish and stuff is just pyrotechnics, not even real magic. Just smoke and mirrors.”

Blackburn snorted. “I’m surprised at you, Gadget. Thought you had more tact.”

“Tact?”

“The mare is performing to entertain ponies, so if the ponies are entertained, why get ornery?”

“B-because it’s all fake!”

“So? She’s a stage magician. Unicorn magic is commonplace, true. The natural assumption of the show is entertainment with flair and flamboyance, and her boasts come part and parcel with that.”

“Anypony that would get all uppity at stage magic just ‘cause it ain’t ‘real’ magic’s got some confidence issues, Gadget,” Crossfire added. “Anythin’ y’all wanna tell us about?”

Gadget huffed. “Whatever.”

Suddenly, there was a loud ping that sounded through the air; everypony in the crowd and the streets, even the performers, turned their attention towards the source of the sound: a speaker system set up on a tall pole near the stage. A stallion’s voice came over the speaker: “Attention. Attention. The Hope’s Point Thirty-Fourth Annual Air Show will be starting in thirty minutes. Once again, the Hope’s Point Thirty-Fourth Annual Air Show will be starting in thirty minutes.”

Blackburn brightened. “Finally. Come on,” she said, gesturing back towards the street. “We can reach the airfield before the show starts and see the pilots.”

The trio made their way through the crowd back to the street even as the two - or was it one? - Accolades resumed their act. Several other ponies did the same, seeking areas to sit as they got ready for the air show; pegasi flew up to claim spots on the roofs of the buildings lining the streets and helped their non-pegasi friends and families to do the same. 

Over the twenty minutes it took Blackburn and her entourage to reach the airfield, the streets had almost entirely cleared out as the crowds took to the rooftops. The airfield itself was at the southern edge of the city, but was atypical compared to what most would expect from such as it was underground. A large launch bay door covered the field when it was otherwise not in use. At present, the bay doors were open and the field had been elevated up to surface level.

As the trio approached the entrance to the airfield, they removed their hoods. The guards at the gate nodded to Blackburn as she approached, letting her through without a fuss. She and her entourage walked past several pilots as they prepared their airships; as this was an air show, only the stunt pilots and their ships, which were smaller - about half the size of a fighter jet - were present, rather than any of the larger cargo or passenger ships. 

There were very clear flight teams set up, as their ships shared designs: one team’s ships were elongated ovals, colored royal blue with gold stripes; another’s were shaped like arrowheads and colored black with silver trim. Some ships were unique in design and didn’t belong to any sort of team: one was shaped like a bird, another like a disc with distended top. Each ship was large enough to accommodate a pegasus pilot and all of the systems needed to allow them to pilot the ship; each ship had one engine and a number of fins to make them aerodynamic.

On the other end of the field, in a section sanctioned off all by itself, was another ship unique in design from the others in the field: diamond-shaped and colored gold with red and white stripes. A decal of a rainbow-colored lightning bolt was plastered on the side, emblazoned with text reading “Rainbow Blitz”, the name of the ship.

Beside the ship were three ponies: Blackburn’s parents - Prince Stormchaser, dressed in a lavish dress coat, and Blue Blitz, dressed in a full-body red-and-gold flight suit - and another stallion, a unicorn with a deep purple coat and reddish-pink mane wearing a business suit. Stormchaser and the other stallion were examining the ship’s engine; the former looked like he was showing it off to the latter.

Blackburn brightened immediately when she saw her mother, and rushed forward to greet her. “Momma!”

Blue Blitz smiled wide as Blackburn approached. “There you are!” She scooped Blackburn up in a hug as her daughter reached her. “I’ve been looking all over for you, my little treasure. Here--” She reached into the pocket of her flight suit and pulled out a green-and-gold striped scarf, handing it over to Blackburn. “No need to go incognito anymore.”

“Thanks, momma.” Blackburn smiled and wrapped the scarf around her neck. 

“Did you have fun at the festival?”

Blackburn nodded excitedly. “We had all sorts of snacks. I liked the candied orange slices the most.” She turned to Gadget and gestured for her to bring over the plush bear. “I won this at one of the games. Gonna call him ‘Bluebeary’: a pun on ‘bear’.”

“He’s adorable,” Blitz said as she pet the plushie’s head. She gave Blackburn a bright smile. “You excited for the show, kiddo?”

“Uh huh! I can’t wait to see you fly, momma. Gonna do any tricks for me?”

Blitz tapped her chin. “Hmm, I dunno, kiddo. Have you been practicing your basics like I asked?”

Blackburn nodded. “Yup!” She broke away from her mother and took a running jump so she could take to the air with her wings, flying a tight circle around Gadget and Crossfire. After two loops around, she pulled up and did a small loopdeloop, then landed. She staggered a bit, dizzy, but shook it off. “See?”

Blitz clapped her hooves together. “Very good! You’re a natural, kiddo. Tell you what: I’m gonna make the biggest loopdeloop you’ve ever seen, just for you.”

Blackburn pumped her hoof in triumph. “Yes!”

Stormchaser finally seemed to notice his daughter had arrived. “Is that Blackburn?” He trotted over from the engine; the unicorn with him lingered by the engine just for a few seconds, giving it a good once over before following. “There you are. Where’ve you been all day?”

“At the festival,” Blackburn said, her voice not quite as peppy as it had been talking to her mother. “I told you and momma I’d be there until the air show.” She turned to the unicorn stallion. “Who’s this?”

Stormchaser turned to the unicorn and patted him on the shoulder. “Oh, this is an associate of mine from Pandemonium, Crimson Dust. He works for Steelbank Engineering, one of the largest firms in the city.”

The unicorn, Crimson Dust, gave a friendly smile. “You must be Princess Blackburn. A pleasure to meet you.” He gave her a slight bow.

Blackburn nodded in return. “A pleasure to meet you, Mister Dust. How do you know my father?”

“We met through business, naturally. Mostly trading in engineering and weapon parts for your air fleet.” Crimson gestured to the engine of the Rainbow Blitz. “My company produces the parts used by the engines your ships use and some of the smaller weaponry. This engine here is a new model I helped design.”

“And why are you here?”

“Blackburn!” Stormchaser hissed. “Don’t be rude to company. What’s gotten into you, huh? I told you I don’t want you getting analytical around me, especially with my guests.”

Blackburn backed down, ears flattened in embarrassment. “I’m… I’m sorry, dad. I’m just… used to asking questions when meeting new ponies. Grandpa wants me to--”

“Grandpa. Of course. Of course! You’ve been spending too much time at those meetings of his,” Stormchaser scolded. “You know I don’t approve of your grandfather’s rampant paranoia. I hope you don’t start picking up any of his other bad habits.”

Blitz touched her husband’s shoulder gently. “Honey, don’t be so rough on her.”

Stormchaser ignored her. “Apologize to my guest, Blackburn.”

Blackburn looked at the ground, embarrassed. “Sorry, Mister Dust… sorry, dad...”

“It’s okay, Stormchaser, I’d be happy to answer her question,” Crimson said with a grin. He turned to Blackburn. “I was just checking out the engines some of your ships have installed to see the modifications made. Stormchaser had me investigate the Rainbow Blitz’s engine personally since it’s a newer model, and of my design.”

“I hope that satisfies your curiosity,” Stormchaser said sternly. He turned to Blitz, his mood changing immediately back to lighthearted. “We’re going to take our seats now, dear. Good luck today.” He gave her a kiss on the cheek, and he and Crimson headed off towards the edge of the airfield.

Blitz gave Blackburn an apologetic look. “Don’t worry about your father, kiddo. He’s just trying to show off to his friend.” She pulled Blackburn in for a hug. “And don’t you ever apologize for being the smartest mare in the room, okay? You’re gonna do great things someday, treasure. Mark my words.”

Blackburn returned the hug. “Thanks, momma…”

Blitz patted Blackburn’s head and walked back towards the ship. “Come on, kiddo, I’ll show you the flight system.” She tapped the underside of the ship, and a hatch opened up to reveal a boarding ramp leading inside, which she ascended.

Blackburn followed her mother - Gadget and Crossfire remained outside - and marveled at the interior of the ship. The cockpit had a single large console panel with a number of dials, buttons, and other displays. At present most of the readings were at zero since the ship was at rest.

“Wow…” Blackburn breathed, eyeing the cockpit’s wondrous technology.

“Fancy, huh? Most of this stuff is only for when we have a copilot, so it’s not gonna get used much today - we don’t need copilots when we’re just doing stunt flying, only for combat.” Blitz gestured at the circular glass tube in the center of the cockpit. “And this is where the magic happens.”

Blackburn put her nose up against the glass. “Cool…”

Blitz pushed a button on the console, and the tube slid open; she stepped inside and motioned for Blackburn to stand back. The tube closed over her, and after a few seconds, a black aerosol sprayed from the ceiling onto her wings, coating them in a liquid-like black substance that clung to her feathers. A panel opened on the ceiling and a green visor descended over her face.

Blackburn watched with interest. “Master Solarian developed this?”

Blitz gave her a smile. “He did. This liquid is a sort of conductive sleeve that wirelessly connects to the ship’s flight controls, allowing a pegasus pilot to control the ship’s flight as accurately as possible. It’s a big improvement over the old-school throttle and stick for us pegasi.”

“What’s it feel like?”

“Like I’ve got my wings covered in maple syrup.” Blitz gave Blackburn a grin and a wink. “Bramblejam says it tastes like three-week-old coffee. So, y’know… don’t eat it.”

Blackburn stuck out her tongue in disgust. “Blech.”

The cockpit console gave a loud, rapid beep. “Oh, there’s the signal. The show’s starting soon.” Blitz gave Blackburn a bright smile. “Go find a seat, treasure. I’m gonna blow this crowd away.”

“Ooh! Wait!” Blackburn called down the ramp to Gadget: “Gadget. Bring Bluebeary.”

Gadget ascended the ramp with the plush bear, taking a second to examine the cockpit while she could. “Golly. This is some fancy--”

Blackburn yanked Bluebeary from Gadget’s grip and put it down in the cockpit. She gave Blitz a grin. “For luck. Not that you need it, best flier in Equestria!”

“Aww, sweetie,” Blitz cooed. “Thank you. I’m really gonna blow this crowd away, thanks to my little treasure’s good luck charm. Now go find a seat, the show’s starting soon.”

Blackburn and Gadget left the ship, and the boarding ramp closed behind them. As they walked off, they heard the Rainbow Blitz hum gently to life. Several other ships on the airfield were doing the same.

A building on the edge of the airfield had been set up with comfortable bleachers for certain VIPs, which naturally included Blackburn and her entourage. The trio made for section that had been sanctioned off just for them on raised seats at the back, where they’d get the best view considering their shorter stature. Stormchaser sat front and center in the bleachers, joined by Crimson Dust and a few other guests, all dressed in exquisite or formal clothing - only his bodyguard was dressed in protective attire. King Flashfire, dressed in red-and-gold royal livery, sat closer to the middle, joined only by Shining Steel at his side.

Blackburn waved at Flashfire and squeezed her way through the other seats to greet him. “Grandpa!”

Flashfire brightened as Blackburn approached. “There she is! My little ray of--” He suddenly coughed, and had to cover his mouth with his hoof.

Blackburn frowned. “Are you okay, grandpa? I thought your condition was improving?”

Flashfire took a deep breath, then smiled to put her at ease. “Just fine, sweetheart, just fine. Only a little cough, that’s all. Looking forward to the show?”

“Yes! I can’t wait to see momma fly. Best pilot in Equestria!” Blackburn said, beaming. “She promised she would perform biggest loop ever.”

“That sounds wonderful, dear.” He gestured to Shining Steel. “Have you said congratulations to Shining yet?”

Blackburn raised an eyebrow and turned to Shining. “Congratulations?”

Shining gave Blackburn a small smile. “The wife and I found out this morning that she’s gonna have a foal.”

“Oh! Congratulations!” Blackburn said with a bright grin. “Give my blessings to Paramour.”

“I will, Princess, thank you.”

Blackburn turned back to her grandfather. “We’re gonna take our seats now, grandpa.”

Flashfire pat her head. “Go on, sweetheart. Enjoy the show.”

Blackburn, Gadget, and Crossfire took their seats in the top row, just as the speakers nearby buzzed to life. “Fillies and gentlecolts, welcome to the Hope’s Point Thirty-Fourth Annual Air Show, where the best pilots in our fleet take to the skies for your entertainment in celebration of our city’s founding!” called an announcer. “Without further ado, please welcome our first performance of the day, the Black Arrows!”

As soon as the announcement finished, a squadron of six ships, shaped like black arrowheads, took off from the airfield and soared over the city, trailing thin trails of white smoke behind them. The ponies in the stands applauded and cheered as they zipped over their building, and while they couldn’t hear it from here, everypony knew the ponies in the rest of the city were doing the same. The speakers, meanwhile, played an upbeat rock-and-roll song to accompany the display.

The black ships banked, looped, spun, rolled, twisted, turned, and sped through the air over the entire city so that every citizen possible could get a good view of the show. They kept in tight formation, twirling around one another in daring displays of aerodynamic mastery. They only stayed airborne for a few minutes before sailing back over the airfield and landing, just as the music was fading out.

“The Black Arrows, everypony!” Applause and cheers rippled through the stands.

Several other flight teams and even a few individual pilots performed after the Black Arrows: the elongated blue-and-gold ships, the Marvelbolts; a squad of green V-shaped ships, the Emerald Vees; a single ship shaped like a fish piloted by one Skyrocket; and many others. After the last team, a squad of white wing-shaped ships called the Angel Wings, finished their set and landed, the announcer came onto the speakers one last time:

“And now, fillies and gentlecolts, for our last performance of the day, please welcome the Fastest Pegasus in Equestria, the Terror of the Skies, the Mistress of Aerodynamics, the one, the only: Blue Blitz and her Rainbow Blitz!”

The stands burst into applause as the Rainbow Blitz took off from the airfield like a rocket; Blackburn, in particular, leapt from her seat to cheer louder than anypony else in the stands. Nopony noticed Crimson Dust leaving his seat.

The Rainbow Blitz trailed glittery rainbow-colored smoke behind it as it flew, spreading literal rainbows through the sky as it soared overhead. It moved faster than any ship before it in the show, dashing about with all the agility of an actual pegasus. When it finished every particularly daring maneuver, it accelerated in a great burst of speed, sending the rainbow smoke out in a booming ring; each boom was met with frantic applause from the crowd, especially Blackburn.

“Golly, your mom’s shows are always great to watch, Princess,” Gadget said with awe. “I wish I could move like that…”

“I don’t think anypony can move like that,” Crossfire whistled as the Rainbow Blitz pulled a tight, looping roll. “Blows me away how y’all pegasi can do that kinda stuff.”

Blackburn beamed as the ship started a huge loopdeloop, just for her. “Just you wait. Some day, I’ll be just as good--”

BOOM!

An explosion rocked the engine of the Rainbow Blitz just as it was coming down from the end of the loop. It was going too fast and was too low to the ground to pull up in time or for Blue Blitz to react. The Rainbow Blitz crashed with a fiery blast in the dead center of the airfield, colliding with a few other ships in a chain reaction of explosions.

Blackburn’s eyes widened. Her lips trembled. “M-momma?”

All the ponies in the stands rose as one. Panic set in quickly, and several emergency crews rushed out towards the site of the crash. To Blackburn, everything seemed to move in slow-motion: her father at the front of the stands rising up in a rage; her grandfather rising up and looking straight towards her; Crossfire grabbing her and pulling her from her seat to get to safety, Gadget drawing her stun pistol to cover them; the rest of the ponies in the stands looking to the royals for guidance.

As Crossfire pulled Blackburn down the edge of the stands, her eyes drifted down towards the ground below. Her eyes narrowed. Crimson Dust was down there, trotting away from the explosion at a rapid pace, pushing past some of the crews rushing towards the airfield. Her thoughts raced. She remembered him lingering near the engine too long. An engine he claimed to help design. An engine that her father had let him examine.

It all clicked together in one horrible realization.


	2. Teenage Troubles

One Year Later

The hospital room was white and mostly empty, save for various pieces of medical equipment, a single chair, and a large, comfortable bed that definitely did not belong in a hospital. There was a guard - an orange-coated, green-maned earth pony mare - stationed just outside in the hall; inside the room was another guard, Shining Steel, who stood at attention in the corner. The room had no windows.

In the bed itself was King Flashfire. His coat had dulled in the past year, and his mane was thinning terribly. His once broad, healthy frame had weakened greatly, leaving him gaunt and pale. He was hooked up to several of the machines to monitor his health, none of which had much positive information to say. Flashfire himself was breathing normally, but was clearly tired.

There was a slight commotion from the doorway, and Blackburn stepped into the room. She’d gotten taller over the past year, and wore a long, white, high-collared jacket and her gold-and-green striped scarf. Gadget and Crossfire remained in the hall. The latter had had a growth spurt and was almost as tall as the adult mare outside; the former, not so much.

Blackburn approached the bed and pulled the lone chair over to sit in. “Grandpa. Good to see you.” She tried to smile, but found it difficult.

Flashfire smiled weakly and held a hoof up to her face. “My not-so-little ray of sunshine. How are you today?”

“Doing well,” she lied. “Came as soon as you called.”

“Of course you did, sweetheart. I knew you would. I got something for you.” He gestured at Shining Steel. “Shining.”

Shining nodded and moved over to the side of the bed, fishing a gift-wrapped, bottle-shaped package from underneath. He passed it over to Blackburn, who looked it over curiously.

“Go on, dear. Open it.”

Blackburn unwrapped the package. Inside was a wine bottle labeled “Hundred-Year Burgundy”. Blackburn raised an eyebrow. “Wine? Not old enough to drink, grandpa.”

Flashfire smiled. “It’s not for right now, sweetheart. It’s called ‘Hundred-Year Burgundy’ for a reason: it’s best after being aged for one hundred years. It’ll hit that year when you’re of age. Save it for then, share it with somepony special.” He put his hoof on hers. “I shared a bottle of this with your grandmother the night we met. It was a gift to me from Obsidian, our mutual friend from the Checkpoint.”

Blackburn gave a slight smile. “Wish I’d been able to meet her…”

“I wish so too, dear… she would’ve loved you so--” He stopped to cough into his hoof, letting out harsh, wheezing coughs. Blackburn rose to tend to him, but he waved her off. “Don’t mind me, don’t mind me. Just a little fit, nothing more. Have you spoken with your father recently?”

Blackburn frowned and took a deep breath. “Still not speaking with him. His fault momma’s gone.” Flashfire pat her hoof, and she held his hoof tight as she started fighting back tears. Flashfire pulled her in for a hug. “Don’t want to lose you, too, grandpa…”

“I know, sweetheart… I know… but we all have to go someday. My time is coming, but I don’t want you to cry for me. You have so much life left ahead of you. Don’t waste it mourning an old stallion like me.”

Another commotion at the door, and this time Stormchaser entered the room, dressed in a regal coat. Flashfire’s expression soured as he walked in, and he started coughing again.

Blackburn noticed and turned to see her father had entered the room, and her expression soured as well. She turned to Flashfire and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Goodbye, grandpa. Will visit later.” She turned and headed for the door.

“Blackburn, honey, where’ve you been all--” Stormchaser started. Blackburn pushed past him without a word, leaving the room in a huff. “--day.” He shook his head and turned back to his father. “I don’t know what’s wrong with that girl.”

“Really? You don’t know what’s wrong with her?” Flashfire scoffed. “And you wonder why I never trusted you to raise her, why I made sure she was raised right. It’s because you are a blind fool. She blames you - rightfully, I might add - for Blue Blitz’s death.”

Stormchaser scowled. “That wasn’t my fault and you know it. It was a technical malfunction in her engine. A freak accident, nothing more. I’m tired of you trying to pin it on me because of Crimson Dust’s incompetence as an engineer. You know damn well he ran because he thought he’d be blamed for it, which obviously he is.”

“And I’ll tell you again that witnesses said he was seen fleeing the scene before the explosion. All the evidence we have suggests the Rainbow Blitz was tampered with.”

“As if I’d trust the clues you put together. I wouldn’t put it past you to have your loyal subjects fudge the data to serve your ridiculous narrative. Stop acting like I don't care that my wife is dead.”

“You really are an idiot. I’m not the one who put the clues together; your daughter did.” Flashfire shook his head, disappointed. “She figured it out immediately after it happened, and it was her testimony that helped us put together the truth. She probably would’ve figured it out before it happened if you hadn’t been your usual self--”

“You’ve turned my daughter into a paranoid freak!” Stormchase snapped. “Normal ponies don’t talk the way she does! Normal ponies aren’t obsessed with the things she is! No matter what I did, she always listened to you, you old fool. You took my little girl from me!”

“This old fool built the most successful settlement in the Wastelands in hundreds of years. This old fool gave the ponies of Pandemonium a beacon of hope to look to, protected them, let them prosper. This old fool gave you everything you could ever want in life and all you did was show contempt--” 

Flashfire coughed fiercely, and leaned back on the bed. After taking a breath, he continued. “You are a disappointment as a son, and a disappointment as a father. If you were even half the stallion I am, Blue Blitz would still be alive.”

“If you weren’t such an obsessive nutcase, mom would still be alive!”

Flashfire sneered, and turned to Shining Steel. “Shining, slap my son for me.”

Shining didn’t hesitate, slapping Stormchaser hard across the face with his armor-clad hoof, nearly knocking the prince to the ground

Stormchaser glared at his father’s bodyguard, placing a hoof to his jaw. “You… you dare strike your prince?”

“I dare to follow my king’s orders, Your Highness,” Shining said, unperturbed. He turned to Flashfire. “Shall I strike him again, sire?”

Flashfire snorted. “No, that’s quite alright.” He turned back to his son, eyes narrowed. “Get out. I have nothing more to say to you.”

Stormchaser straightened himself. “Fine. I said my piece.” He stormed out of the room.

Flashfire sighed and turned to Shining. “I shouldn’t have had you do that, Shining. He’s going to make life hell for you when he’s crowned because of that.”

“I’m not worried,” Shining said with a slight grin. “The wife and I already planned on taking a vacation in Newhaven after he takes the throne. Maybe we’ll make it a permanent move, raise our daughter someplace sunny and warm.” He paused a moment. “You know, Flashfire… it’s not too late for you to do something about Stormchaser taking the throne. You’re the king, you could appoint anypony you want to be your successor.”

Flashfire frowned and stared at the ceiling. “I know I can… but I couldn’t. The ponies of this city have come to expect Stormchaser to succeed me when I’m gone. He’s the rightful heir. If I put somepony else on the throne, even if just to keep it warm for Blackburn… I fear that there would be some that consider her rule illegitimate, and my son would make sure of it. There might be unrest. I can’t put her through that.”

“Fair point.”

“Sometimes makes me wish you’d all nominated me ‘president’ or something less constricting than ‘king’,” Flashfire added with a laugh. He coughed into his hoof. “I wish I could ask you to watch over my granddaughter. I know she’ll be safe… but I worry…”

“Don’t worry, sire. I’ve watched her grow up just as much as you have. If there’s anypony in this world that’s more capable of keeping herself safe than her, I’d love to meet them.” 

Six Months Later

The royal wedding chapel was exquisitely decorated with whites, blues, and purples. Hundreds of flowers of varying kinds lined the aisle and scented candles sat at the edges of the room, all combining to give the chapel the smell of a pleasant spring afternoon. All of the pews were packed tight, save for an empty spot near the front row on the groom’s side. Half a dozen camera crews had taken up spots throughout the chapel: one at the back near the doors; one halfway down the aisle; two on the ceiling, one above the doors and one above the altar; and two more near the altar, one facing the groom, the other facing the bride.

The groom himself, King Stormchaser, stood proud and confident facing towards the camera crew that was focused on him; his tuxedo was pressed and clean, and the collar was high and decorated with the red-and-gold of Hope’s Point. Six groomsmen stood at his side, all well-dressed stallions in dark gold tuxedos with impeccable grooming. Opposite them were six bridesmaids, all lovely mares in periwinkle dresses, their manes decorated with white and gold flowers. The officiator of the ceremony was an older stallion dressed in ceremonial military gear.

Then, the traditional Bridal Chorus played, and the entire crowd’s attention turned towards the chapel entrance. Entering the room was the bride, a gorgeous pearl-white unicorn with a luxurious dark pink mane, dressed in a long, flowing bridal gown decorated with glittering gemstones. As she approached the altar, the crowd and cameras followed her with their eyes the whole way. When she reached the altar, she met eyes with Stormchaser and gave him a loving smile, which he returned, then took her place.

The music stopped, and the officiator addressed the crowd. “Friends, family, and compatriots, we are gathered here today to bear witness to the union between these two, King Stormchaser and Silver Glow, in matrimony. If anypony can show just cause why these two should not be lawfully joined together, let them speak now or forever hold their peace.”

Stormchaser glanced out into the crowd, fully expecting Princess Blackburn to speak out. However, when his eyes drifted over to her reserved seats, the seats were empty. Blackburn wasn’t there.

*****

Princess Blackburn sat at a table in a small diner on the city surface, situated off in the corner away from the crowd that had gathered near a television set above the bar. She was dressed in a red jacket with the hood pulled up, no scarf. Across the table from her were Gadget and Crossfire, dressed in similar jackets - Gadget’s blue, Crossfire’s green. Between them, on the table, were mostly-emptied plates of food; there was evidence that they’d all ordered hay fries, that Blackburn preferred hers with ranch dressing, Gadget with ketchup, and Crossfire plain.

Also set up was a deck of cards. The trio was in the middle of a tense game of poker; the flop currently held a four, five, and six of spades. Blackburn’s pocket cards consisted of a nine of clubs and a ten of hearts; Gadget’s was a two of hearts and a three of diamonds; Crossfire’s was a two and three of spades. 

Blackburn’s poker face was unreadable; her expression was that of a pony who was half-awake and trying not to fall back asleep. Gadget’s wasn’t nearly as perfect, because her eyes kept darting from Blackburn’s face to her own cards, her mouth curled in the tiniest of grins. Crossfire, meanwhile, was trying too hard, keeping a dumb grin on his face but shifting his eyes excitedly between the other two.

Unsurprisingly, Blackburn’s pile of chips was the largest. She pushed ten more chips into the pot. Gadget put ten as well; Crossfire put fifteen. Gadget then drew a new card, the turn: a three of hearts. Blackburn, expression unchanging, pushed five more chips in; Gadget added ten, Crossfire another fifteen. Gadget drew the last card to add, the river: a nine of spades Blackburn pushed forward forty chips.

Gadget hesitated; Blackburn didn’t even acknowledge it. Gadget took a breath, then placed her cards face-down. “I fold.”

Crossfire was sweating. He licked his lips, checked his pocket cards again, then took a deep breath and placed his cards face-down too. “I fold too.”

Blackburn leaned forward in her seat and shrugged, tossing her cards face-up onto the table before pulling the pit towards herself.

Gadget rolled her eyes. “Sonuva... not again.“

Crossfire groaned and put his hooves to his face as he leaned back in his chair. “Dagnabit! I had a dang straight-flush!”

Gadget looked at him incredulously. “You had a straight flush and you folded? The heck is wrong with you, Crossfire? That’s the best hand you could possibly have here.”

“I had the two and three. I thought she had the seven and eight!” He stared at Blackburn. “You’ve got a killer poker face, Blackburn. How in the hay do ya do it?”

Blackburn shrugged. “Just comes natural.” 

She tilted her head towards the crowd at the television, where she could see that the display was focused on the royal wedding. At present, rings were being exchanged. Then, the bride and groom kissed to seal the deal; the crowd applauded and cheered. Blackburn, meanwhile, just huffed.

Gadget turned to see the display for a second, then turned back to Blackburn. “Guess it’s finally official, huh? You gonna be okay, Blackburn? I know this whole thing is… awkward.”

“Awkward nothin',” Crossfire said, shaking his head. “The three o’ us know dang well that this whole thing ain’t right. ‘Tain’t right at all…”

Blackburn snorted and sunk into her chair, but did not respond for a long time. “Changes nothing,” she muttered at long last. 

This poker face wasn’t nearly as good.

One Year Later

Hope’s Point had, over the years, attracted a great many ponies from all walks of life in Pandemonium City: the downtrodden and well-to-do, the desperate and the simply curious, the brave and the meek. And, be they earth pony, unicorn, or pegasi, there was an opportunity for prosperity in Hope’s Point only surpassed by the southern Utopian continent itself. Nearly half of the ponies that came to Hope’s Point eventually left south to make better lives for themselves and their families.

Those that remained in Hope’s Point were expected to contribute to the city’s well-being and thriving society in whatever manner they could. Some had entrepreneurial spirit and opened businesses that catered to the wants and needs of the city’s population. Some had the money to provide for themselves from the get-go, and provided a much-needed influx of currency into the city’s economy. Some had skills or talents that led them to working in the city’s numerous fields of labor both menial and not: engineers, lawyers, doctors, soldiers, technicians, plumbers, reporters, etc.

Of the latter group, the most favored and most important were pegasi with a talent for flying, for they could serve the city as pilots in its fleet of airships. The ships were ostensibly used for the transport of cargo or passengers between Hope’s Point and Utopia, or Utopia and Pandemonium City, which in every case required them to travel south through the Belt of Tranquility, the ironically-named storm of chaotic magic that stretched along Equestria’s equator.

These pegasi pilots were trained and equipped at Fleet Headquarters, a large building in the underground levels. And it was at Fleet Headquarters that Bramblejam now waited in a lonely training room on one of its many floors dedicated to the service. The room was equipped with dozens of pieces of training equipment, most prominently an elevated glass tube connected to a series of mechanical contraptions.

Bramblejam himself was a golden pegasus stallion with an orange mane, currently dressed in a simple green jacket. His wings were a little longer than those of the average pegasus, so when they drooped at his side as he paced to-and-fro, they dragged along the ground. He constantly looked at the time displayed on the clock above the door; currently it read 11:56 p.m.

“What’s got you all in a tizzy, dad?” asked a younger pegasus stallion in the room with him. “Flight lessons make newbies nervous. They made of glass?”

The younger pegasus was similarly colored, though his coat and mane had more of a healthy luster to them. He was dressed in a green-and-gold flight suit, and his wings, too, were much longer than the average pegasus his age; his primaries stretched out behind him.

Bramblejam turned to his son and licked his lips. “More like steel. I suppose since she’s gonna be here any minute, any second, maybe even right now!” he said with a long exhale. His vision glazed over. “To be honestish, a long-a-rino time comingly, you know, milad--” 

The younger pegasus furrowed his brow briefly with concern, and quickly slid a wingtip forward hard, flicking his father’s forehead.

“Sorry,” Bramblejam coughed. “Anyway, since she’s gonna be here soon I think it might be a good idea, prudent even, to let you know just what, or rather who, yes, who, we’re giving this lesson to: her royalful princessly Princess Blackburn!”

The young pegasus’s eyes widened. “We’re giving royal lessons?! Why am I just finding out about this now?! Is my mane okay? How about my breath? Acceptable for princessliness?”

Bramblejam covered his son’s mouth. “Shhhhshhshh! Keep quiet, son, we can’t let anypony know about this, okay? This is very hush-hush-hushed, tip-to-the-top secret, confidential, and dare I say it, classified. Princess Blackburn doesn’t want anypony to know, least of all His Majestical Majesty himself. So you keep your lips tight, hmm?”

“Yeah, tip-to-the-top, sure thing dad, whatever you say,” the son replied with a nod. “Whoo, the Princess wants private flying lessons. From us. Whoo.”

Just as the clock on the wall turned to midnight, the door opened, and Princess Blackburn strode in with Gadget and Crossfire in tow. Bramblejam and his son bowed immediately upon the entrance, which earned a polite nod from Blackburn, who stepped in front of the two. Crossfire moved to close the door and stand guard nearby; Gadget made for the myriad devices that filled the room, giving them scrutinizing looks.

“Captain Bramblejam,” Blackburn said as she gestured for the older pegasus to rise. “Punctual, excellent. Eager to get started.” She turned to the younger pegasus. “Briarthorn, your son and assistant. Pleasure to meet you.”

The son - Briarthorn - nodded and smiled. “Pleasure to meet you too, Princess. I didn’t know we were having royal company tonight, so this is a nice surprise, if you don’t mind me saying so. I didn’t think many ponies even got to interact with you.”

Blackburn turned to Bramblejam. “Good, secret has been kept. Whatever happens here stays between us.” She then turned to the equipment that Gadget was examining. “As said: eager to get started. Shall we?”

Bramblejam held up a hoof. “Certainly, absotively posilutely, and we’ll get started right away your Princessfulness, but you're not gonna blast off just yet, no sir. I know you’re royalicious and all that jazz and such but… uh…” He suddenly paused, a faraway look in his eye as he stared off at the wall like it was the most interesting thing in the world.

Blackburn raised an eyebrow. “Captain?”

Briarthorn cleared his throat. “Sorry about that, he gets like that sometimes.” He poked his dad hard in the side with his wing. “Dad! Hey!” He even stomped his hoof to punctuate it.

As if nothing had happened at all, Bramblejam continued. “But I’ve gotta keep to my teacherly lesson plan or I’m just setting a bad bad bad example, you understand?” He clapped Briarthorn on the shoulder. “My son here’s gonna demonstrate the equipment first for you while you get suited up.”

“Am familiar with equipment already,” Blackburn stated matter-of-factly. “Learned from… from my mother.”

Bramblejam’s expression softened. “Yeah… yeah, I figured Blue Blitz probably showed you a few things before…” He caught himself and cleared his throat. “Still, lessons are lessons, and rules are as rulesy as water is wettish, and I can’t just go… uh... “ Again, he stopped, this time tilting his head to the side as he looked at a particular spot on the ceiling.

Briarthorn poked him again. “Dad! Focus!”

“Can’t just go breaking my system, even for you, Princessy,” Bramblejam finished. He shook his head to gather his wits. “Sorry, had a flight earlier tonight and came straight here afterwards, so I’m a little wibbly-wobbly-woozy. Should’ve stopped to wet my whistle, have a little nip, and perhaps even paint the town red first.”

Blackburn was given pause, but realized what was going on: effects of Diffusion sickness. It was an illness that affected the crew ponies on the various flight teams that flew for the Diffusion system that kept the ships protected from danger. The system’s side effects caused severe organ damage after repeated use, and though developments had been made to reduce the effect, it was still lethal after ten or so years of constant exposure.

Bramblejam had been the Diffusion flyer aboard the Blizzard, one of the larger cargo ships in the fleet, and a valuable member of their team. His mother, Rosethorn, had also been a Diffusion flyer, aboard the first passenger vessel the fleet had built, the Cloud Nine. Her father, Briarpatch, had invented the Diffusion system along with some help from Solarian, an adaptation of the same technology used to make the city’s defense shield.

Briarpatch died young; heart attack was the official diagnosis, but Blackburn knew the truth, just as her father did, and her grandfather before him. Same with Rosethorn: kidney failure officially. In truth, it was the Diffusion sickness that had finally taken its toll on their bodies, as it would do to every Diffusion flyer in the fleet, eventually. Flashfire forbade his medical staff from revealing this information, afraid that nopony would volunteer for the Diffusion positions, which were crucial to the fleet’s operations. Stormchaser upheld Flashfire’s secret, and Blackburn continued the trend.

So she knew what was wrong with Bramblejam. But she also knew she couldn’t tell him; he didn’t know. All he and the other Diffusion flyers knew was that Diffusion flight caused discomfort and headaches, but that alcohol cleared that right up, a treatment discovered by Doctor Berry Syrup, Rosethorn’s husband. There was no cure, and no technology advancements were available to prevent it.

Blackburn maintained her poker face. “Fair enough, will not dispute it,” she said with a nod. She turned to Briarthorn. “Ready for demonstration.”

“Aye aye, Princess,” Briarthorn said with a salute.

Briarthorn smiled and nodded, then flew up to the glass tube. Bramblejam walked over to one of the many machines, pressed some buttons and flicked some switches, and the entire collection came to life. A monitor on one machine flickered on, but didn’t display anything just yet; the other machines hummed softly as various meters, dials, and displays began showing readings. 

The glass tube opened and Briarthorn stepped into it, whereupon the tube closed over him, and after a few seconds, a black aerosol sprayed from the ceiling onto his wings, coating them in a liquid-like black substance that clung to his feathers. A panel opened on the ceiling and a green visor descended over his face. After it did, the monitor below flickered a little before an image appeared on screen, showing viewers exactly what Briarthorn was seeing, which was currently the room as-is.

Bramblejam cleared his throat. “First of all, that aerosol spray on the wings--”

“Developed by Solarian,” Blackburn finished. “Liquid is conductive sleeve, connects to ship’s flight controls. Allows pegasi pilots to control ship’s flight accurately.”

Bramblejam nodded sagely. “Correctamundo. Well-spoken and informative. Learned that from the ol’ super-science sage himself, did you?”

Blackburn shook her head. “Mother told me.”

“Well, moving on to the next part.” Bramblejam pulled a small green visor from the top of the nearby control module, though this one was inactive. “These visors serve as a virtual, visual, and also video aid, a sort of camera if you will, that allows the pilot to see around the ship they’re piloting as if their body were the ship itself. Regardless of how big or small the ship is, it will… uh…” He became fixated on a smudge on the floor.

Blackburn looked between him and Briarthorn, then gently nudged Bramblejam in the side. “Captain?”

“It will adjust itself to give the pilot the sensational sense of being in complete control,” Bramblejam continued, “especially when combined with their now liquid-coated wings.”

Gadget whistled. “Golly, Solarian is a real genius. Some of this stuff is more advanced that anything I worked with when I was under Spark Plug.”

“Tippity top top top-of-the-line and nothing below it,” Bramblejam bragged, puffing out his chest. “That’s our motto in the Hope’s Point Fleet.” He turned back to Blackburn and gestured towards Briarthorn as he himself turned one of the dials on the control panel. Once he did so, the sound of rushing air filled the room.

“Now,” he continued, “the pilot’s chamber is filled with an air substitute, a fake breeze if you will, that simulates the wind conditions outside of their ship. You can’t see anything different right now, of course, because I haven’t turned on the simulator yet” He paused, then gasped. “Oh! Silly me, I forgot to turn on the simulator. Uh, let’s just skip right ahead and move on to that step now, shall we?”

He pushed another button on the panel, and the monitor flickered before displaying a new image: the airfield on the surface, devoid of any other ships. Briarthorn looked left and then right; as he did so, the wings of the “ship” that Briarthorn was supposedly piloting came into view.

“And with that, let’s start our engines and get all revved up. Briarthorn’s going to do a run on our most basically-basic simulation course to show you what it’ll look like, and then you can go get suited up and give it a raring-good run yourself. Sound good?”

Blackburn nodded and turned her attention solely to the monitor. “Proceed.”

Briarthorn saluted, then took to the air within the tube; his ship on the monitor did the same, and as he tilted himself forward and beat his wings, the ship moved forward, though its wings did not “flap” - the motion was just a gesture to indicate forward movement.

The basic simulation course was rather simple. A multi-colored ring appeared above the city in front of Briarthorn as he took off, which Briarthorn made for immediately. As he passed through it, another ring appeared further ahead and just off to the left; Briarthorn shifted his wings slightly to tilt the ship to the left, sailing through the ring easily. Every time he passed through a ring, another would appear elsewhere in his vision, requiring more and more effort and maneuvering to pass through as he flew a course around the simulated city.

When at last he had passed through thirty rings, they had directed him back to the airfield, where he descended and made and easy landing. As soon as he landed, the simulation ended and the view of the room returned to the monitor. Briarthorn removed the visor, causing the monitor to go dark.

“How was that, Princess? Impressive, huh?” Briarthorn called down to her. He brushed his chest a little with his hoof. “Yeah, if this thing kept records I bet I’d have the high score,” he bragged. “Gonna be the best pilot in the fleet someday, just you watch.”

Blackburn nodded. “Skilled flyer, will agree. Take after your father.” She turned to Bramblejam. “I wish to try.”

Bramblejam gestured towards a small door in the corner of the room. “Locker room is over there. Go ahead and get changed into a flight suit, Your Princessfulness, and we’ll get you all hooked up, strapped in, and all that hullabaloo. You even get to pick your color!”

Blackburn nodded and headed behind the curtain. A moment later, she came back out in a red-and-gold flight suit that clung tightly to her body, though she’s kept her scarf on; in the time she’d been changing, Briarthorn had left the tube, the black substance on his wings no longer present.

Gadget grinned as she gave Blackburn a once-over. “Looking spiffy, Princess. Golly, you look like you were made for that suit.”

Bramblejam put a hoof to his chin. “The scarf is a nice touch, adds a touch of panache, a little swigger-swagger to the whole deal, real flashy-like. Not really supposed to be wearing anything else but the flight suit while flying though, pretty much against regulations and protocols, or rules if you catch my drift.”

Blackburn frowned and held the scarf in her hooves. “Gift from mother, lucky scarf. Always wear it when not incognito. Must I remove it?”

“Hmmm… well, to be frank it’s not really a rule so much as a suggestion, a guideline if you will. So as long as it’s not interfering with your wingdings I don’t see the harm in wearing it,” Bramblejam said with a shrug. “Anyway, looking like… uh…” A sound that nopony else could hear suddenly attracted his attention to a few different locations in the room.

Blackburn poked him in the side.

“Looking like hot stuff in those suits isn’t all there is to being a top-notch stunt pilot, my Princessly pilot-in-training, you’ve gotta walk the walk as much you look the look… though I guess it’s more fly the fly? Eh. Whatever. Head on up, Princess, let’s get you all hooked in.”

Blackburn smiled and flew up to the glass tube. She didn’t notice Briarthorn gawking at her as she flew. She entered as Briarthorn had, and waited for the tube to close. When it did, it sprayed the black aerosol over her wings; the sensation was awkward to her at first, like dipping her wings in maple syrup, and it smelled like mint and lavender; after she got used to it, it was a pleasant feeling. She picked up the visor that Briarthorn had discarded and placed it over her head. Presently, it was no different than putting on a cumbersome headset and goggles.

After Bramblejam turned on the simulation, however, she felt a sudden rush of a light breeze inside the tube, and the sensation of being out on the airfield as this nameless, featureless “ship”. She looked to her left and right and Briarthorn had done to see what it felt like from her perspective; lifting her left wing, she saw flaps on the ship’s left wing adjust to match her motions.

“Whenever you’re ready, Princess, you can take off,” Bramblejam said. Despite him being in the same room with her, it sounded more like it was coming over a comm channel in her ear.

She nodded, and mimicked Briarthorn’s motions from earlier to perform the take-off maneuver. Suddenly she was filled with the sensation of a brisk breeze rushing through her mane and wings, of her scarf flapping gloriously behind her and flicking her tail. It didn’t take more than a few seconds to get accustomed to the feeling that she was the ship, and that the ship was her; they were one.

As she lifted off further, she caught sight of the multi-colored ring in the sky ahead. She flapped her wings quickly to pick up speed and flew through the ring like a rocket, and the next ring appeared just after that but slightly to her left. She banked and tilted herself to the left enough to clip through the ring. The next ring appeared below her and to the right, but rather than bank right, she continued tilting left and pulling up, making a tight roll that swung her through the ring gracefully.

Outside the simulation, the other ponies watched her perform the course with an almost practiced precision, clipping through the rings slower than Briarthorn had done but with much more advanced maneuvers. Bramblejam wordlessly nodded in approval as she swung, twirled, and darted through every ring in her path with all the flair of a practiced pilot. Gadget and Crossfire, too, watched in admiration of their Princess’s performance.

Briarthorn, meanwhile, watched with mouth agape as the Princess, who was supposedly coming here for lessons, completely outclassed his earlier display, which had merely been to demonstrate the simulation; granted, he’d done it faster and more directly, but she was still making it look good. 

“She’s… how is she doing that?” he asked, turning to Gadget. “Figuring out where the rings are gonna be, I mean. Most first-timers have to do several loops around the course in one run just to get all the rings.”

“She’s had a lot of practice,” Gadget said, watching Blackburn pull off a loopdeloop to swing through one of the rings rather than just fly straight through it. “That and she watched you perform the course first. She memorized it.”

“After just seeing it once?” Briarthorn asked, astounded. “It took me ten runs to get that course memorized enough to start beating records, and I’m at the tippity-tip-top of my class. I didn’t even get all the rings on my first lap on my first try.” He paused, then stuck up his nose. “Took me two, if you’re wondering.”

“I wasn’t.”

“I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m impressed and all, but… why’s she doing it the way she is, with all the flashy maneuvers? If she’s got everything all memorized she’d finish faster just going straight through, like I did. Not fast enough to beat my time, of course, but--”

“Yeah, well, you’re not Princess Blackburn, and she’s not one for simple solutions,” Gadget chuckled. “No offense, you’re good - she wouldn’t have said so if you’re weren’t - but remember who her mom was.”

Briarthorn nodded. “Blue Blitz, yeah… I remember. I used to watch vids of her stunt shows when I was a little colt, just a teeny-tiny novice flyer. She was amazing… best pilot I’ve ever seen.” He turned to Gadget directly. “She trained the Princess, didn’t she? That would explain, like, everything. Hot dang… to be trained by Blue Blitz herself, what an honor, no, a privilege! An honored privilege, even.”

Blackburn finished the course, and without much ado she removed the visor and ended the simulation. “A… unique experience. Never felt anything like it,” she muttered. She turned to Bramblejam and the others. “Would like to continue training. Unsatisfied with completion time.”

Bramblejam glanced at the clock above the door. 12:45 a.m. He shook his head. “Not tonight, my dear Princessfulness. As much as I want to, all equipment is supposed to be shut down at 1:00 a.m. so the maintenance crews can do their routine checky-checks and so on and so forth and such. You might have time but, since you’re trying to keep this all incognito, all super secret, somepony else might see you.”

Blackburn nodded. “Very well. Will schedule next appointment for tomorrow night, same time. Preferably different room. Wish to test advanced simulations if possible.”

“Yessiree, I’ll see what I can get cooked up for you, Princess,” Bramblejam said with a smile. He turned to his son and nudged him. “You wanna come along, kiddo? I’ll book the dual-simulator room next time, maybe we can set up a little competition, a contest, a head-to-head so they say.”

Briarthorn beamed. “Heck yeah, dad, that sounds awesome! Amazing! So cool, I get to hang out with the Princess on her super-secret flight training sessions with my dad. Oh wow oh wow, this is like… I mean, I never even dreamed this would happen so not like a dream come true, this is like, winning a contest you didn’t even enter. And the grand prize is getting to hang out with the Princess!”

Blackburn looked around the glass tube and flexed her still-coated wings. “Um… how do I--”

Bramblejam slapped his forehead. “Whoopsie! Let’s get you out of there, Princess. One sec. You might feel an odd tingly-tingle when that stuff comes off.”

He flipped a switch on the console, and another spray filled the gas tube. As it did, the substance on Blackburn’s wings hardened, then crumbled away to the floor like powder. As this happened, Blackburn shuddered and bit her lip; the sensation was incredibly exhilarating, not at all like it had felt having the liquid sprayed on in the first place. If that’s what it felt like every time she finished a flight, Blackburn thought, it was no wonder the pilots loved their jobs so much.

She exited the tube and fluttered down to the rest of the group. “Time to leave,” she said, turning to Gadget. “One moment while I change.” She made for the changing room.

Bramblejam nudged his son. “You too, squirt, go get changed. We’ve got an early day ahead of us, what with your mother wanting to try out that new pancake joint that opened on Fifth Lane. I hear they’ve got really-real pancakes on some kind of hush-hush menu, like you need a password and everything.” He hummed. “I wonder what the password would be? Maple? No, waffle!”

Briarthorn saluted. “Aye aye, roger wilco sir!” And he made for the changing room as well.

Gadget swiftly grabbed him by the ear with her magic. “Whoa whoa whoa, buster, where do you think you’re going?”

Brairthorn squirmed in her grip. “Hey! What gives?”

Blackburn turned at the commotion and narrowed her eyes. “Wait your turn.”

Briarthorn raised an eyebrow. “My turn? What do you mean ‘my turn’? We don’t take turns in the changing room.” He turned to his father. “Right, dad?”

Bramblejam cleared his throat. “Strictly speaking, locker rooms are communal, even intermutual amongst all of flight teams in the fleet. Even Blue Blitz shared a locker room with us when she and I were still on the Marvelbolts. Typically we didn’t bother taking the time to ‘take turns’ - kind of makes it difficult to do when you’re in a hurry, y’know? Wouldn’t want to be taking off your clothes in the middle of a dangerous flying situation. Unless you’re into that sort of thing.”

“See?” Briarthorn said, giving Gadget a told-you-so look. “The flight teams are like sports teams, and they share locker rooms too. No sense in getting all fidgety about it. I get changed with the other students all the time. It’s perfectly normal.”

“To be fair, to be fair,” Bramblejam added, “her Princessfulness isn’t an official student here at HQ, nor is she looking to join an official flight team, nor would she be any position to want or need either of those things what with being of the royally-royal persuasion and all. I can’t really expect to impose our… traditions? No no, our, uh… habits? Yeah, habits. Routines, you might say. We can’t really impose those on her if she doesn’t want to.”

Blackburn pondered this for a moment, then nodded. “Mother was official pilot, shared lockers with her flight team. Signed up for full educational experience. Acceptable.” She turned to Gadget. “Release him.”

Gadget’s jaw dropped. “Princess, you don’t need to--”

“Need, no. Want, yes. Helps develop camaraderie.” She turned to Briarthorn. “That is intention of sharing lockers, yes? Camaraderie?”

Briarthorn nodded. “Yes, ma’am, your Princessfulness.”

Blackburn turned back to Gadget. “Release him.”

Gadget rolled her eyes and dropped her spell. “As you wish, Princess.” She poked Briarthron in the side. “No funny business though, you got that?” She gestured to her sidearm. “This baby’s got enough voltage to put down stallions twice your size, and I’m not afraid to use it.”

Briarthorn tensed and held up his hooves defensively. “No funny business, got it, roger that, yes ma’am.”

Blackburn snorted in amusement, then turned and made for the changing room, Briarthorn right behind her. 

They changed in silence, and Blackburn noted that Briarthorn was true to his word - no funny business - though he did glance in her direction from time to time. She only knew this because she found herself just as unable to stop glancing in his direction while he got undressed. She got a good view of his cutie mark, a bronze shield with a golden “V” emblazoned on it, decorated with two white-gold ribbons that trailed down his leg. She blushed as she turned away, just as he glanced in her direction, desperately hoping she hadn’t been caught staring. 

She didn’t know why she cared, really.

Three Months Later

King Stormchaser strode through the royal halls with an air of disdain, accompanied by his bodyguard, a dark blue earth pony stallion with a silver mane. Servants and guards bowed just slightly as he walked past, but he replied with no gestures of his own as he went. He passed through hall after hall, climbed stair after stair, until he reached a room at the mid-level of the easternmost tower of the palace. The guards outside the door bowed and opened it for him, revealing a small meeting room.

A table was set up in the center of the room, surrounded by chairs which were filled with assorted ponies in important positions within the city’s hierarchical structure. Stormchaser knew their names and duties well enough but with few exceptions didn’t know them personally; he had to take stock of the room to make sure he could recall what he knew of everypony present.

Spark Plug, Chief Engineer. An orange earth pony with a stocky build and a neon blue mane, dressed in a blue jumpsuit. He was responsible for running the city’s power plant, with particular focus on the systems that kept the defense shield operational. A genius with anything mechanical in nature.

Solarian, Chief Science Officer. He wasn’t responsible for much these days except for consultation purposes, and within the last several years had served as personal tutor of Princess Blackburn. Stormchaser blamed him for his daughter’s bizarre manner of speech, but knew he couldn’t fire the stallion for that; he was too critical to the city. Instead, Stormchaser just made sure to keep his influence minimal.

General Avalanche. A rock-gray earth pony with an impressive build, his black mane cut short, decked out in his medal-strewn dress uniform. A defector from New Pandemonium’s military, appointed to his position mere weeks before the passing of King Flashfire and placed in charge of the city’s respectable ground defenses. Stormchaser hardly interacted with him, and didn’t care to anyway; military matters didn’t interest him.

Secretary Featherfree, Chief of Sanitation and Infrastructure. A butter-yellow pegasus mare with a pink-and-white streaked mane, dressed in a neat dress suit. Stormchaser knew her well enough since she was always trying to get more funding as the city grew more and more populated, insisting that if they continued their work they could make the city’s surrounding geography livable for plants and animals - a pipe dream, really, everypony knew that. She was meek, but eager to help.

Concord, Ambassador to Newhaven. A green earth pony with an orange mane dressed in an impeccable suit and tie. He’d made the journey here from Newhaven, where he spent most of his time in the past few years as the little town slowly expanded its port to include proper accommodations for Hope’s Point’s larger airships and even an official embassy. Stormchaser knew him as an excitable stallion but one who got the job done, and since he rarely butt in on matters in the city proper he’d been given a great deal of autonomy in his duties abroad.

Fleet Master Skyrocket. A powder-blue pegasus with a dark blue, windswept mane dressed in a neatly-pressed flight jacket. He was in charge of maintaining the city’s fleet of stunt flyers, cargo ships, and the new heavier transports they were developing. Stormchaser had assigned him to the role himself after his predecessor, Sonic Boom, retired, but only because the stallion was one of the few pilots in the fleet with experience in management. The position had originally been intended for Blue Blitz, and everypony knew Skyrocket was a distant second choice, even Stormchaser, but especially Skyrocket; the stallion was so eager to please and prove himself that he was easy to manipulate.

And lastly, Evening Glitz, Chief Intelligence and Enforcement Officer. A light purple unicorn mare with a dark blue-and-pink mane that she kept tied in a bun, wearing a sharp dress suit and glasses. She was in charge of maintaining the city’s security, both at the gate into the city and throughout the streets. She was a paranoid mess most days, a result of a close working relationship with King Flashfire, but Stormchaser knew she was retiring within the next year or so and he could assign somepony more reasonable and less obsessive.

After Stormchaser took stock of everypony, he cleared his throat. “I hope I didn’t keep everypony waiting long? This is our first council meeting since I took the crown and I forgot where the room was. It’s been a while.”

“Only one hour, fifteen minutes, forty-two seconds,” said Solarian, checking his watch, not a hint of sarcasm or hesitation in his voice. “Not long at all, sire.”

Stormchaser snorted, took his seat at the center of the table and turned his attention to the crowd. “Let’s get this over with then, shall we? My Queen and I have plans for this evening and I’m hoping to make it back by dinnertime. What’s the first order of business?”

Evening Glitz was the first to speak, clearing her throat with a punctuated, “Ahem!” She lifted up a folder full of papers, opened it, and without missing a beat began to speak. “Well, Your Majesty, the Department of Intelligence and Enforcement has been requesting extra funding these past few months and I believe it’s time we addressed that request. It's sort of the main reason we called this council meeting.”

“What sort of extra funding?”

“We’re looking in the realm of--” She read through her papers. “An extra eighty-eight thousand bits for the current year, and an additional forty thousand next year. A total of two hundred and sixteen bits over a two-year timespan, then we can cut back to current funding.”

Stormchaser looked at Glitz like she was from one of Equestria’s moons, probably the smaller one. “What in Equestria do you need that many bits for?”

In one breath, Glitz presented her case: “Upgrades to security systems, particularly improvements to the database system as suggested by Chief Science Officer Solarian to better collect data from New Pandemonium’s registration and documentation network with particular focus on the more guarded files in the NPAF, NPPD, and FIB - military, police, and intelligence bureau, respectively - as those are the most frequent sources of infiltrators.”

Solarian nodded. “The system would improve our precision in spotting infiltration attempts. There would be an accuracy increase of forty percent, bringing us to a new total of eighty-one percent. Further influxes of data would further increase accuracy. Our estimate to reaching a perfect accuracy is within five years of the implementation, at least by our original projections.”

Stormchaser grumbled. “And why is this system costing over two hundred thousand bits?”

“It requires undetectable surveillance equipment implanted into New Pandemonium servers. The technology is expensive, and the mission is risky.”

“But as said, with this new system, within five years we could spot imposters at the gate with near-perfect certainty,” Glitz chimed in. “The sooner we get it installed, the better. We can never be too careful.”

Stormchaser shook his head. “No, too expensive. We need those bits to further the development of the new ports on the cliffside to accommodate the increase of air traffic in the past two years.” He turned to Featherfree. “I believe you put in that request, Featherfree?”

Featherfree gave a nervous glance to Glitz, who was giving her a stern glare. “W-well, yes, sire, I did. Our current stock of hangars can, um... barely service the influx of airships we currently take in on a daily basis, and m-my department’s estimates are that we’ll have to begin placing a limit on incoming traffic within the next six months if we don’t expand.”

“But if we take in that many new ponies, it’ll be harder to profile them to make sure they’re not a threat,” Glitz pointed out. “Our current system is already having difficulty keeping up with the influx of new residents, and the budget cut we got last year didn’t help matters whatsoever. My ponies are understaffed and overworked with inferior equipment.”

Solarian hummed. “Here’s a suggestion. Use the airfield as a sort of temporary housing for the city’s incoming traffic while our security improvements are implemented. One year maximum.”

Skyrocket bristled at this. “Hold on one dang minute, you’re not taking my airfield just because you need time and bits to whip up some fancy doohickies. Where are all of the stunt flyers supposed to park?” He turned to Stormchaser. “Sire, this is a ridiculous suggestion. Not to mention that we’d need that influx of traffic in order to increase the city’s income so that we can even afford these ideas in the first place.”

“I agree,” Stormchaser said with a nod. He turned to Glitz. “I’m turning down your request for additional funding, Glitz. We’ll discuss it again at a later date… if you’re not retired by then,” he added with a smirk. “Though I’m sure your successor will be glad to carry this torch of yours.”

Glitz’s eye twitched. “Your Majesty, really, this is a matter of city security I’m trying to improve here. It is of utmost importance that we implement improvements to the detection system: rumors suggest the New Pandemonium is developing improvements to their A.M.P. Troopers to bypass our current systems and might finish within the next six years. This new system needs to go into effect sooner rather than later. This year is the last chance to get it in before--”

“I’m sure our ground forces can handle any of those robots if they make it into the city,” Stormchaser snorted before looking to Avalanche. “General?”

Avalanche nodded. “Certainly, sire, my troops can handle anything those rusty bolt-buckets could possibly throw at us. However, if they infiltrated the city without prior knowledge, innocent civilians may come to harm before my troops could arrive to handle the problem. I’m not suggesting we follow along with Solarian’s earlier suggestion, but perhaps other alternatives could be considered?”

Glitz pointed her hoof at Avalanche. “Thank you! Finally, somepony’s taking this seriously besides me and Solarian.” Spark Plug cleared his throat, and Glitz rolled her eyes. “And Spark Plug, since his department would be developing the device and he’s already signed off on the project if it gets greenlit.”

Concord raised his hoof. “Honestly, sire, the flow of air traffic into the city could certainly be slowed for a time while security measures are improved upon. I’ve spoken with a few ambassadors from Utopia itself and they’re making plans on sending material and personnel to Newhaven to speed along further port development. We could accommodate travelers for a time.”

“Out of the question,” Stormchaser said, shaking his head. “All the ponies making the detour to Newhaven might just decide to stay in Utopia and then we lose the major portion of our potential income. My decision is final: no additional budget to the Department of Intelligence and Enforcement. I’m approving Featherfree’s request to make additions to the cliffside ports; the increased traffic flow will help us afford these sorts of fanciful endeavors in the future.”

Featherfree gave Glitz an apologetic look and shrugged. Glitz shook it off, it wasn't Featherfree's fault.

“Any further objections?” Stormchaser asked.

Nopony at the table spoke up.

Somepony in the corner, who Stormchaser had failed to notice because he hadn’t really looked throughout the room extensively, did speak: “Decision puts city in undue danger.”

Stormchaser scowled and turned to the corner, where Blackburn sat in a small chair with her usual entourage of Gadget and Crossfire. “What are you doing here, Blackburn? This is a private council meeting and you are not on the council. Not since last I checked anyway.”

“Always sit in at meetings when able,” Blackburn said matter-of-factly. “Acquaint self with process, acquaint self with those in hierarchy. Improves understanding of city’s inner workings. Thus, improves quality of rule later in life.”

“What do you mean you ‘always sit in’?” He turned to the other council members. “You all knew she was here the entire time and said nothing? Why?”

Avalanche scratched his chin. “Well, sire, I don’t know about ‘always’, but she was present at most of the council meetings King Flashfire held in the later years of his life. And this is our first council meeting since you became king.”

“I know that, but these meetings are supposed to be between the king and his advisors only!” Stormchaser said with a sneer. “You’re telling me you all just let her sit there this whole time? None of you even thought to point her out to me, did you?”

Spark Plug bristled. “Frankly, Yer Majesty, I bloody well figured ye knew since yer father allowed it. Why in Harmonia’s name are ye getting all in a tizzy for it, eh? The lass isn’t botherin’ anypony, now or before. I actually like havin’ her around, if ye don’t mind me sayin’ so; gives me a chance to speak with my former student again.” He winked at Gadget, who smiled back and waved.

“Furthermore, she’s always punctual,” Solarian said with a slight grin.

Stormchaser glared at Solarian. “Keep running that mouth of yours, Solarian, just you watch, and I’ll make sure you’re writing your shitty little science papers from a three-by-five cell!” He turned to Blackburn. “And you, young lady. You’re not the queen of this city, not yet, and you do not get to sit on my council meetings without my permission. Understood?”

Blackburn merely stared at her father, her expression unreadable. “Why?”

“Because I am the king, dammit!” Stormchaser snapped, punctuating his words by slamming his hoof on the table. “And I am your father, and you will listen to me. Your grandfather may have given you permission to be here, but you do not get to assume that I would do the same. Leave. Now. We’ll discuss this more later.”

Stormchaser was breathing heavily, but Blackburn just shrugged and started for the door, Gadget and Crossfire right behind her. “Very well. Decision made. Will no longer attend meetings, father.” She subtly glanced at a few of the council members as she walked out: Solarian and Evening Glitz in particular. Stormchaser didn’t notice.

Solarian discreetly twisted a dial on his watch, activating a recording device that wouldn’t be detected by the room’s sensors that should prevent that sort of thing; after all, he’d designed them and knew how to circumvent them, and had done so at King Flashfire’s request in case he suspected anypony on the council was compromised. More importantly, he’d told some of Flashfire’s most trusted associates: Evening Glitz, who slid her hoof along her glasses to activate her own recording device; and Spark Plug, who’d of course built the sensors to Solarian’s specifications and would keep his mouth shut.

Blackburn would never attend another council meeting while her father was king.

Blackburn would never need to attend another council meeting while her father was king.

Three Months Later

Blackburn waited patiently in an empty, dusty room of a nondescript building on the city’s surface, dressed in her typical incognito hooded jacket, this one a dark green. The floor of the room was covered in dust-caked mats; the walls and ceiling were cracked and falling apart. A wall of mirrors on one end of the room reflected its contents, but most of the mirrors were cracked; some were missing, revealing the rotted wood behind them.

Crossfire, in his own green jacket, relaxed with his back against one of the walls, absently fiddling with a broken chair leg he’d found in all the debris. Gadget, also in a green jacket, paced back and forth in front of the mirrors, trying not to look at herself in her nervous state.

“Y’know, you really don’t need to do this, Blackburn,” Gadget said with some trepidation. “You’ve got me and Crossfire for a reason. I know I’ve said this a lot already--”

“Thirteen times, have counted.” Blackburn shrugged. “True. However, emergencies happen. Example: we are separated. Another example: you both are injured. Need to account for such situations. Grandfather completed basic training in NPAF. Cannot replicate experience. Thus, next best thing.”

“Ya really think some self-defense class is as good as professional military trainin’?” Crossfire asked, tossing away the chair leg. “No offense ta Mister Savage - I helped ya pick the guy out - but I don’t really see the connection.”

“Already have proficiency with small arms; learned from one ‘Crossfire’, if you recall,” Blackburn said with a grin.

Crossfire rolled his eyes. “Yeah yeah, I showed ya how ta shoot a gun an' y’all’re a decent shot, but obviously that ain’t good enough for ya.”

“Naturally. Must account for various possibilities. Unarmed combat next logical step.”

“Okay, look, you've obviously got your mind set on this, Blackburn,” Gadget said with a sigh, putting her hoof on Blackburn’s shoulder. “But did we need to come into this dump to do this? I swear, if I get tetanus because of you, I’m gonna shock your royal ass.” She punctuated the last part with a flourish of her new sidearm, a larger pistol-like device lined with odd attachments.

“Have ya even tested out your new doohickey, Gadget?” Crossfire asked, giving her a curious look.

“As a matter of fact, I have tested my new ESP-2100,” Gadget said, twirling the weapon around in her magic. “Got it fitted out with two settings depending on what I need to do to the target. One: stun ‘em with fifty-thousand volts of pure electrical mayhem. Two: pump enough electricity through ‘em to power a city block for a week, give or take. That one’s lethal, by the way.”

Crossfire rolled his eyes. “Yeah no shit.”

There was a knock at the door. “Enter!” called Blackburn.

The door opened and in walked a hulking, golden-yellow earth pony stallion with a dark gray mane, bushy mustache and full-chinned beard. He wore a purple tank top with lavish frills and an overly-large pair of sunglasses, both decorated with sparkling sequins, and carried a large duffel bag with him. He looked about the room with some disdain, but nodded after a few moments, removed his glasses, and set them on his duffel bag in the corner.

“Princess,” he said with a low bow. His voice was gruff and deep, but he was rather loud. “It is an honor and a pleasure to be here, in the service of the most royalest of royals, the cream of the crop, her highest of highnesses.”

“A pleasure, Hulk Savage,” Blackburn said with a polite nod. “Thank you for punctuality and secrecy.”

“Oh yeah, you can always count on me to keep your secrets nice and tight. If I might ask though, Princess, what exactly are you hopin’ to accomplish here? You’ve got two mighty fine bodyguards there with ya, seems to me you don’t need no trainin’.”

“See?” Gadget said. “Even he’s confused.”

Blackburn rolled her eyes. “Wish for training in self-defense. Learned to use small arms, hoof-to-hoof combat next logical step.”

Savage grinned and pounded his chest. “Well then you picked the right stallion for the job of teachin’ you the art of being a rough and tumble mare who’s too hot to handle and too cold to hold. Oh yeah! You got trainin’ gear on under that jacket there, Princess?”

Blackburn nodded and removed her jacket; she too was dressed in a tank top, though hers was not nearly as flamboyant as his. Meanwhile, Savage opened his duffel bag and removed a device, which he set up on the floor. He pushed a button on it, the top opened up to reveal an inflatable pony-shaped dummy.

Savage settled into a very basic fighting stance, and gestured for Blackburn to mimic him, which she did - dominant foreleg forward, hindquarters raised, ready to strike - in front of the dummy. “Okay then, little Princess, I’m gonna assume you know how to buck like a bronco, so let’s start with something more useful: a basic spinning kick. Like so.”

He put all his weight into his dominant foreleg to lift his hind legs off the ground and spin in one swift motion, then put weight into both forelegs to kick the air - punctuating it with an “OH YEAH!” - then returned to his original position. “Your turn, Princess,” he said.

Blackburn took a deep breath, and mimicked his maneuver to the best of her ability. She whiffed, kicking far too early, and nearly tripped trying to get back to her original position.

“Try again,” Savage said. 

Blackburn settled back into her stance and tried again. This attempt, she struck the dummy but this had the effect of pushing herself forward; she lost her balance and hit the floor.

“Get up. Try again.”

Blackburn took a deep breath, settled back into her stance, and tried again. This time, she kept her balance with the kick and managed to get some force into it, and was able to swivel around and almost get back into her original position.

“Good,” Savage said with a nod. “Again. Keep at it ‘til you get it smooth as silk and strong as steel, ‘til you feel like a tower of power, oh yeah!”

Blackburn practiced the kick several more times for nearly thirty minutes, and by the time she was done, she could kick the dummy with enough force to knock its head back several inches. They moved on from the basic spinning kick to a leaping spinning kick, to a leaping stomp.

Then, it was time for holds and throws. For this, Blackburn needed a partner; Savage was too big, but Crossfire was just the right size and was asked to step in. He wasn’t dressed for it, but it was good enough. Blackburn practiced several holds and throws, each rougher than the last, but Crossfire was a durable pony and took the beating like a practiced professional. If anything, he was glad Blackburn was eventually tossing him around; it meant she was getting better.

However, one throw attempt did not go as smoothly.

As Blackburn lifted Crossfire up, she lost her balance and tripped, sending her and Crossfire straight into the nearby cracked mirror. Crossfire’s back slammed into it hard enough to crack the glass that hadn’t yet been cracked. Blackburn hit it face first, right on a nasty crack that was already there; the glass sliced her face as she slid down, tearing into the right of her muzzle all the way across to just above her left eye. She fell unconscious.

“Blackburn!” Gadget yelped, rushing over as quickly as she could. In a panic she got a good look at the blood trickling down Blackburn’s face. Her own face paled. “Shit, that’s a… a lotta… blood...” Her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she passed out, falling to the mat like a load of bricks.

Crossfire, none the worse for wear, grunted and rose to his hooves. “Gadget? Hey! Get up ya dang--” He shook her with his hoof; she didn’t stir. “Dagnabit.” He turned to Hulk Savage, who was staring at the situation developing before his eyes like a deer in headlights. “Okay, Mister Savage, here’s how this is gonna go…”

*****

Blackburn lay in bed in her room later that night, holding up a mirror to her face. She put her hoof up to the fresh stitches; the cut was still sore but at least it wasn’t bleeding anymore. It was certainly going to leave a nasty scar when it healed, but she knew the medical staff at Hope’s Point could almost certainly touch it up enough that nopony would ever know it was there, if she decided to have it touched up at all. 

Gadget - when she came to and could bear to look at the injury - was of the opinion that it should be fixed so that she wouldn’t have to tell everypony the embarrassing story of how she got it when she tripped while trying to suplex her bodyguard. Crossfire thought she should keep it and wear it with pride, arguing that she could fudge the facts about how she got it and that the scar looked “cool as hell”.

There was a slight commotion at the door; Blackburn heard the muffled voice of Crossfire - who was currently on watch duty while Gadget got some sleep - speaking with somepony else, but she couldn’t tell who. He was certain it was her father, come to scold her for her accident and likely to punish Gadget and Crossfire for letting her come to harm.

She was wrong.

The door opened, and Queen Silver Glow - her stepmother - entered the room. She was as regal and beautiful as ever, dressed in a lavish purple nightgown that sparkled with glitter, her mane done up in an exquisite bun. While she’d been all smiles when she entered the room, her expression faltered briefly when she saw Blackburn’s scar, but only briefly before regaining her composure.

“What are you doing here?” Blackburn asked, eyes narrowed.

Silver Glow faltered again, just briefly, before clearing her throat and giving the best smile she could manage. “I just wanted to check on you, dear. I heard about your little accident.”

Blackburn snorted and set her mirror down, letting Silver Glow get a better view of the scar. “Come to gawk, then.”

Silver Glow approached the bed. “Oh no no, darling, not at all. I wanted to make sure you’re okay, that’s all. Your father is, um… too busy to come himself, so I figured maybe I should do this in his place.”

“Ah, not to gawk. To reprimand. Not your place.” Blackburn shifted in the bed to hide her face. “Not my mother.”

Silver Glow frowned, paused, then: “May I sit?” Blackburn grunted in response, not really in the affirmative or negative, so SIlver Glow sat. She leaned over to try and get a better look at Blackburn’s face. “If you don’t want to show me, dear, I understand, but… I assure you I’m only looking out for your well-being.”

Blackburn grunted again and rolled back over so Silver Glow could see the scar up close. “Better, my Queen?”

Silver Glow winced at the sight. “Oh darling, that is a most ghastly-looking cut, no wonder dear Gadget fainted. Are you sure you’re alright? It looks like it still hurts. And all those stitches!”

“I’m fine,” Blackburn stated flatly.

“How in Equestria did this happen, dear? This looks like a lot more than just a simple trip on the pavement.”

“That’s all it was,” Blackburn lied. “Save concern, doesn’t hurt. I take responsibility as well: wasn’t watching where walking. Gadget and Crossfire--”

“Oh hush, dear,” Silver Glow said with a reassuring smile. “I’m not here to dole out any silly punishments to your friends just because you had a nasty fall, if that is what caused all this. How many times must I say I’m just here to check on you and make sure you’re okay?” She pat Blackburn’s hoof gently. “But if you insist--”

Blackburn pulled her hoof back. “I do.”

“Then I’ll let you get some much-needed rest.” She rose from the bed and let out a breath. “And when you get those stitches out, if you’ll let me, I’d like to take you to Doctor Sugarcane to have that scar patched up. She does wonders with that sort of work, at least according to my friends; never had any work done myself, I assure you,” she added with a grin. “All secondhoof information.”

Blackburn huffed. “Haven’t decided if ‘patching up’.”

Silver Glow raised an eyebrow. “Oh? But darling, surely you’re not even considering keeping that scar, are you?”

“Why not?”

“Why, because it’s a most dreadful mark on your lovely face, sweetheart. I don’t think your father wouldn’t want you walking around with something so unbecoming for a lady. It wouldn’t be proper to have such a disfigurement.”

Blackburn scowled. “Disfigurement. Tone implies ugliness. You think scar will make me ugly.”

Silver Glow frowned. “That’s… that’s not what I meant, dear--”

“Hadn’t made decision before, making it now: keeping scar. Spites father, spites you.” She pointed her hoof at the door. “Leave.”

“But… Blackburn, darling--”

“Stop feigning motherly concern. Disgusts me. You are not my mother.” Blackburn pointed at the door more insistently. “Never will be. Leave.”

“I was just…” Silver Glow frowned, sighed, and nodded. “Good night, Blackburn.” She left the room without another word.

Blackburn snorted, rolled over, and gripped her pillow tight as she tried to get some sleep.

Six Months Later

Blackburn, Gadget, and Crossfire stood and waited in a line outside Hope’s Point’s only movie theater, dressed in their typical incognito attire. Blackburn’s scar had healed, but it would always be there unless she decided otherwise; she'd decided on using makeup to cover it instead. The building took up nearly a third of the city block and was a bright and colorful affair, complete with neon lights of a staggering variety of colors. The line stretched around the block, mostly teenaged ponies like them but with a fair amount of young adults dressed in costumes or carrying merchandise, and young fillies and colts with their parents.

Gadget checked her watch. “Ugh, movie time in twenty minutes. When are they gonna let the line start moving? We’ve been here for like two hours now and my hooves are killing me. Just absolutely killing me.”

“Patience,” Blackburn said. “Can’t be much longer.” She tilted her head to scan the crowd not in line. “More concerned about our fourth. Should be here by now.”

“Don’t ya worry one hair on yer head, Blackburn,” Crossfire said, clapping her on the shoulder. “He won’t be late.”

“He better not be,” Gadget snorted, glancing at her watch again. “You know how much trouble it was to get these tickets without invoking our special privileges?”

Crossfire rolled his eyes. “Well aware, seein’ as ya remind me ‘bout it every twenty minutes. Just be patient, like Blackburn says. He’ll be-- there!” He pointed up a ways into the air above the crowd, where Briarthorn, wearing a green flight jacket with a fluffy collar, was fast approaching.

Blackburn brightened and waved her hoof to get his attention. “Over here!”

Briarthorn swooped over with a smile, landing right next to Blackburn. “Hey hey hey! Sorry it took so long to get here, dad’s last client wanted a demonstration on the level seven course before we got out and you know how long that sucker takes.”

“No worries, you’re here now.” Blackburn grinned pulled him close with her wing to hug him, pecking him once on the cheek. “Excited?”

“Are you kidding? I’ve been looking forward to this movie for the last two years!” He pulled open his jacket to show off a t-shirt with the movie’s logo on it. “Finally get to see how the trilogy ends, so yeah, I’m excited. Excited, excited, so excited. Nobody’s a bigger fan than me, not a soul. Go on, find someone that’s a bigger fan, I dare you.”

Gadget snorted. “Have you looked behind us in the line, Briar? There’s a guy back there dressed just like Lord Blood with his laser sword and everything, top notch costume, had to cost like two hundred bits, easy. A lot bigger deal than just a t-shirt,” she added, pointing at his shirt. “I think I even saw a mare back there with a tattoo of Star Junction on her neck.”

Briarthorn tapped his chin and shrugged. “Okay, fair, I don’t have a two-hundred-bit costume, or anything permanent like a tattoo, but, but, that doesn’t mean they’re bigger fans, just that they have bigger budgets. I mean, I could afford a costume or tattoo if I was on a pilot salary but I’m still just a student. Best student ever, sure, but it’s not like I’m getting paid to help my dad teach a bunch of newbies how to fly an airship.”

Blackburn slapped his chest. “‘Best student ever’? Beaten some of your records.”

He smirked and nuzzled her neck. “Besides you, of course, and you haven’t beaten all of the records yet. But technically, technically, you’re not a student at HQ. Private lessons don’t count.” 

“Then technically, you’re the best pilot in the fleet,” Blackburn said with a grin. “Will make fine Captain someday.”

“Yeah, maybe. Still, I’ve kinda had my eyes set on joining a team as a Diffusion flyer, like my old man, and like his mother before him, and her father before her. Bit of a family legacy, y’know?”

Blackburn maintained her poker face. On the inside, she wanted to tell him to stay as far away from the Diffusion position as possible, even if he had to settle for being a Cadet until he got promoted to co-Captain or something. But she knew she couldn’t without telling him why. Subtle nudging would have to do for now.

“Beneath your skill level, hun,” she said, pressing her nose against his. “Best pilot in the fleet should Captain a ship. Captain Briarthorn… mmm, sounds sexy...”

He leaned up and whispered in her ear. “Wanna schedule some private lessons with ‘Captain Brairthorn’ for after the movie? I’ll show you how to do an unloaded extension. Maybe a little rolling scissors?”

Blackburn blushed and giggled - actually, honest-to-goodness giggled like a schoolfilly - before pushing him away. “Easy, tiger. Not here.”

Gadget and Crossfire shared a look between themselves that the other two couldn’t see, so preoccupied were they with their lovey-dovey public display of affection. Crossfire rolled his eyes and put his hoof to his head, miming a gunshot; Gadget made a gagging motion, followed by miming herself hanging from a noose. 

An usher approached the front of the line and unhooked the rope, allowing those at the front to head into the theater. Blackburn’s group was near the front and followed along, entering the theater lobby. They moved straight for the concession stands, buying a few large tubs of popcorn, several boxes of candy, and soft drinks for all four of them. They then entered the theater proper and took their seats, which were in the back corner. 

The quartet sat through the previews of coming attractions: a highly-anticipated comic book superhero film that explored to origins of a fan-favorite mare who hadn’t gotten her own solo film; a thrilling action film focused on two hardass stallions facing off against a genetically-engineering supervillain, a spin-off from a popular franchise; another thriller about a trained assassin that had to face down his clone out to kill him starring an actor that hadn't had a good performance in ten years; and a live-action adaptation of a popular animated film from thirty years ago that didn’t change anything about the original, just cast live actors - a blatant cash grab.

Gadget and Crossfire waited patiently as the previews played; Blackburn and Briarthorn were too busy putting their hooves all over each other and kissing, taking advantage of the dark theater to get as frisky as they liked without even Blackburn’s bodyguards noticing too much. They almost missed the start of the movie.


	3. Secret Sojourn

Two Years Later

Blackburn, Gadget, and Crossfire had gathered in Gadget’s room at the royal palace in the early morning before anypony that could or would bother them was awake. The royals’ personal bodyguards, Gadget and Crossfire included, were granted meager private chambers on the palace grounds under the sensible justification that they needed to be available at a moment’s notice for their royal charges. Considering that Gadget and Crossfire were also friends with Blackburn, she’d pulled strings while Flashfire had been alive to have them furnished with everything they’d need to be both of better service to her, and more comfortable when alone.

The trio had at last grown up and out into mature adults. Blackburn had gotten taller but was still lithe and nimble, barely able to fill out her jacket; her scarf was no longer so long compared to herself that it risked dragging on the floor. Crossfire had filled out his armor, which over the years had been improved dozens of times by Gadget to accommodate techno-magic accessories; in full armor he was easily one of the largest stallions in service to the crown, and even without it he was bigger than all but the biggest; he’d also cropped his mane short. Gadget, meanwhile, had stopped growing taller years ago and didn’t look to be catching up. The tip of her horn barely rose past Blackburn’s chin; she had, however, generously filled out her coveralls.

At the moment, the trio were reviewing a checklist that Blackburn was reading aloud from.

“First order of business: supplies,” she said, shifting her attention to Gadget. “You have procured all we need?”

Gadget nodded. “Absolutely.” 

With her magic she lifted up one of her floorboards to reveal a hidden compartment, which contained three suitcases. She lifted them out one at a time, and opened them one at a time to reveal their contents: sets of clothing for all three of them including dress clothes and more casual wear, passports, accessories - glasses for herself, sunglasses for Crossfire - a healthy supply of bits, umbrellas, toothbrushes, combs, and shampoo. Everything needed for a little vacation.

Then, Gadget lifted up a secret compartment in her case, which contained not-so-vacation-y materials: Gadget’s latest weapon, a magnum-sized sidearm with braces along the barrel; a set of surveillance equipment, including a camera, sound receiver, and motion detector; and a set of communicators, easily inserted into the ear. In Crossfire’s was a spare set of armor made of a lighter, softer material that, through some of Gadget’s ingenuity, could fold up to fit in the compartment and still function fully. In Blackburn’s, as well as her own and Crossfire’s, were another set of passports.

Blackburn nodded in approval at the collection. “Excellent, everything accounted for. Continue: falsified passports.”

Gadget lifted out the three other passports from within their hidden compartments, which had their photos on them just like their real ones, but they each had a different look about them. Each of them was dressed in simple casual clothing in their photos. Blackburn’s mane was tied back in a long ponytail; Gadget’s was tied up in a tight bun. Their expressions were more dour as well, as if they weren’t enjoying having their pictures taken. The rest of the information displayed was fabricated.

She passed Blackburn hers to look over first. “You are Thunderbolt, owner of a small tech firm called ‘Crown Spectrum’ that you operate out of your own home. You’re originally from Inner District, Arcadia, moved to Utopia with your parents five years ago, and are now moving back to start your business, which means getting a fresh start with a new office space and everything. Your parents were stockbrokers: High Roller and Diamond Chain. You were homeschooled by about a dozen private tutors.”

She lifted her own next to show it off; she’d already seen it. “I’m Tinker, your new assistant and tech specialist. I’m originally from the Mid-West District, West Plaza, but have been moving around for the last six years and never really settled in one place for more than a few months. We met at the C2 Convention last year and you hired me on the spot. I specialize in conductors and magnetics, but also dabbled in transistors. My dad, Goldwire, was an engineer for Akklaim Electric, now retired in Newhaven in Utopia; I never knew my mother.”

Last she passed Crossfire his so he could go over it. “And our big guy here is Fireblast, from Newhaven in Utopia, who you met en route to the city and hired on as a bodyguard since your parents told you that you weren’t likely to get a place to stay in the Inner Districts right away and worried for your safety. Family history is irrelevant but if anypony asks, they owned a restaurant.” She gave him a little wink and whispered: “Gave you the easy one.”

“‘Preciate it, Gadget,” he replied with one hundred percent genuine sincerity. “Never been much fer actin’. I can lie just fine but I ain’t gonna be able ta keep much o’ that kinda stuff straight like y’all can.”

“Confirmed that falsifications are in the New Pandemonium system?” Blackburn asked as she examined her false self’s photo, putting a hoof to her scar as she did. The makeup on her face, like that in the photo, hid it almost perfectly.

Gadget nodded as she started shuffling things back into the suitcases. “Affirmative. Hacked them into the system this morning before you got here, so the three of us are now officially citizens of New Pandemonium City. The groundwork has been laid and we’ve got most everything we need, so it’s just a matter of getting into the city itself now.” She turned her gaze to Crossfire expectantly.

“Excellent.” Blackburn also turned to Crossfire. “Our itinerary?”

“Our flight to Newhaven leaves at sundown,” Crossfire said, pulling three tickets - digital devices, not paper - with their real names out of his pocket. “We’ll arrive there early in the evening, stay the night ‘n’ most o’ the next day in town, then we catch the New Pandemonium flight at midnight the followin’ day. Can’t judge when we’ll arrive in though, their ships ain’t so precise, but I hear we’re lookin’ at like five hours or so.” 

He then pulled out three more tickets - also digital - and set them down on Gadget’s bed so they could see that their fake names were on them. “Sure as shootin’ we’re all covered on gettin’ there.”

“Good call on the stopover, Crossfire,” Gadget said with a nod. “Ponies’ll see us arrive and get a place to stay, even hang around for a bit, but they won’t see us leave. Even gives us some time to get in the right state of mind.”

Crossfire smirked. “Yeah I thought y’all’d like that. Wasn’t easy to keep it hush-hush, but the two of y’all ain’t the only sneaky ones ‘round here.”

“Good, all preparations made for departure and arrival,” Blackburn said with a nod. “Last order of business: secret keeper. Saved for today, lessens risk of discovery. We move after breakfast.”

*****

Solarian was alone in his office, a simple affair with little more than a desk, a computer, and two chairs on either side of the desk. It only served the purpose of being a place where he could have peace and quiet so he could write his science papers. He still published articles in Pandemonium under a pseudonym, Moonsparkle, in an attempt to extol the virtues of science and drop subtle hints to attentive readers that they should move to Hope’s Point and bring their skills and talents with them. He wasn’t sure how many newcomers were the result of his efforts but he figured, if it was even one, he’d made a difference.

He preferred to be in his lab, but in the past year or so he spent less and less time there thanks to King Stormchaser’s attempts to subdue his influence and input on the council, mainly because he wasn’t developing much of use. But Solarian was not deterred, even when his greatest ally on the council, Evening Glitz, retired from her seat and was replaced by a know-nothing know-it-all, Gleaming Star, who was totally loyal to Stormchaser’s lax ideals. If there was one thing he’d learned from decades of experience in both Pandemonium and Hope’s Point, it was that diligence was key, and he was very diligent.

There was a knock at his door. “Enter!” In walked Princess Blackburn and her entourage dressed in their typical hooded jacket incognito attire. “Princess Blackburn. This is a pleasant surprise. To what do I owe the pleasure? Let’s see, you’re dressed incognito, so this clearly isn’t an official visit.”

Blackburn took a seat at the desk. “Will make this brief: planning secret excursion to New Pandemonium. Leaving tonight under pretense of ‘vacation’.”

Solarian raised an eyebrow and nodded. “And you trust me with the knowledge of your true location. An emergency precaution, I assume? You’ve anticipated the possibility of needing an extraction.”

“Correct.”

“Now, I can certainly venture a guess as to why you’re doing this, probably get it ‘right on the money’ as they say, but I’d prefer to hear it from you.”

“Father’s policies: mixed results. One hoof, prospering economy, burgeoning population; other hoof, increased security breaches, smuggling trade losing traction. Unacceptable compromise. Need your help.”

“So this is an attempt to fix the latter conditions without disrupting the former ones,” Solarian finished with a nod. “Understandable. Commendable, even. You need more than secrets kept, though, otherwise you’d have other options to keep this secret. My specific assistance is required. Not for the lattermost reason, no, it’s not my specialty. You need something from me.” He grinned. “The database constructor?”

“Correct.”

“Hmm… I never got funding for it. ”

Blackburn leaned in and smiled. “No, but possess plans. Have top-tier engineer on team.” She tilted her head towards Gadget, who gave a cocky smirk. “Will construct device ourselves. Falsified identities ideal for acquiring resources, materials. Won’t attract suspicion.”

Solarian gave a knowing smile, then reached into his desk, pulled out a small datapad, and directed his look towards Gadget as he placed the datapad on top of his desk. “Unfortunately, I am under royal orders not to provide these plans to anypony. The plans are certainly not on this datapad, since it would easy to steal them if the datapad were to be left unattended.” He rose from his seat and rounded the desk. “I think I’ll take an early lunch. I heard they have some new items at the cafeteria.”

He left the room without another word.

*****

Blackburn, Gadget, and Crossfire sat patiently as the elevator descended far, far down into the cliff of Hope’s Point. All they had with them were their suitcases; they were dressed in casual, comfortable, yet classy clothing in preparation for their “vacation”. Blackburn: a blue sun shirt and a white skirt, plus her lucky scarf; Gadget: a white floral sundress and big sun hat; Crossfire: an orange aloha shirt and sunglasses, otherwise unarmed and unarmored. They certainly looked the part they were playing for now.

The trio did not remain silent as they rode down, and in fact were in quite high spirits. There was to be a stopover in Newhaven after all, so even though they wouldn’t be long, they still planned on enjoying themselves.

“We won’t have a lot of time, so we’d better plan out our actual ‘vacation’,” Gadget mused. “Let’s see… if we wake up early tomorrow, say eight o’clock, we’d have about fourteen hours to work with before we return to the hotel to ‘sleep’.” She turned to Crossfire. “What can we do in Newhaven for fourteen hours?”

Crossfire rubbed his chin. “Well, I ain’t been home in a good many years, but I don’t imagine the hotspots have changed much. I know Blackburn wanted to try out lima beans, so either fer lunch or dinner we pretty much gotta go to Legume’s Legumes. Y’all’ll love it, trust me, best beans in all o’ Equestria an’ if I’m lyin’ I’m dyin’.”

“Okay, lunch plans, good, good. What else?”

Crossfire shrugged. “I say we plan out the rest o’ the stuff as we go, get a little spontin… spont… uh…”

“Spontaneous,” Blackburn said with a grin. “Agree. Usually not spontaneous. Makes for pleasant change of pace.” She hummed. “Approaching bottom. Remember story if asked.”

The elevator slowed and rumbled to a stop, opening up into a large underground tunnel that led to several dozen currently-closed hangar bays. The bay doors were about one hundred feet wide, large enough to allow the biggest ships in the fleet to fit through. One door, however, was open, and a young pegasus stallion, orange with a purple mane dressed in a black cadet uniform, stood beside it in nervous anticipation. He sprung alert when he noticed Blackburn and her entourage departing from the elevator.

“P-Princess!” he sputtered as he gave a hasty salute. “Good to see you, good to see you. The Lunar Spear is just getting the final flight checks ready and we’ll be departing in ten minutes.”

Blackburn nodded in response. “Thank you. Understand this was sudden. Needed vacation.”

“Yes ma’am, no complaints here ma’am, happy to help ma’am.” The cadet drew a small device from his pocket. “Um… well, uh… this is awkward but, Princess, do you have tickets? I know you’re Princess and all, but protocol--”

“No trouble, went through routine steps.” Blackburn turned and gestured to Crossfire, who drew their three tickets from his shirt pocket and passed them over without a fuss.

The cadet scanned each ticket with his device once, then pocketed them. “All set there, Princess, now I just need to, ahh… ch-check your luggage. I hope you don’t… you don’t mind, but it’s procedure and all, and--”

“Understand, wouldn’t have it any other way.” 

She put her suitcase down and opened it, gesturing for Gadget and Crossfire to follow suit. The cadet held his device over the contents of the suitcases, scanning them with a greenish-blue glow. Nothing out of the ordinary to be found, so the suitcases were zipped back up. Blackburn didn’t consider it worrisome that he hadn’t detected the secret compartments; Gadget had designed them to be undetectable specifically by the Hope’s Point scanners, which only Hope’s Point had the specifications to as far as anypony knew.

“All clear, Princess, you’re ready to board,” the cadet said with a bow. “Please enjoy your flight. I’ll take your luggage on board while you’re getting seated.”

“Thank you, cadet,” Blackburn said with a nod. She gestured for Gadget and Crossfire to follow her as she trotted towards the Lunar Spear.

The ship was larger than the stunt flyers Blackburn was used to, about the size of a small house, and was shaped like a folded crescent with a large foresection and distended sides. The ship was colored a harsh black with silver and gold trim. A boarding ramp led into the ship; a yellow pegasus mare with an orange mane wearing a black-and-gold flight suit stood at the top to greet them.

“Princess Blackburn!” the pilot greeted with a wave. “It’s a pleasure to have you on board the Lunar Spear, ma’am. We may not be the fastest ship in the fleet but I’ll eat my flight suit if we’re not the coziest ride you’ll ever have.”

“Captain Flame Strike, thank you for having us,” Blackburn greeted with a nod. “Apologies for sudden flight plan. Desperate need of vacation.”

“Completely understandable, Princess, everypony needs a vacation from time to time,” Flame Strike said with a wide grin. She gestured into the ship. “Let’s get you inside, shall we?”

Blackburn nodded, and she, Gadget, and Crossfire boarded the Lunar Spear. True to Flame Strike’s claims, the interior of the ship was cushy and comfortable despite how many seats it accommodated. The seats were cushioned and clearly capable of reclining, there was a faint scent of vanilla and cinnamon in the air, and a screen at the front of the seating area was clearly set up for in-flight entertainment. There were enough seats to fit thirty, but only the three of them were aboard, so they sat right up in front of the screen.

Flame Strike saluted to the trio as they took their seats. “Well I’m off to the cockpit, folks. Cadet Rollerblade will attend to your needs while we’re en route to Newhaven. Thanks again for flying with the Lunar Spear!” And off she went to the cockpit.

The earlier cadet - Rollerblade - ascended the boarding ramp seconds later, closing it behind him. He saluted the passengers and recited his well-practiced speech: “Welcome aboard the Lunar Spear, fillies and gentlecolts! I’m Cadet Rollerblade and I’m going to be your flight attendant on tonight’s journey to Newhaven. While Captain Flame Strike preps the ship for take-off, can I get anypony any refreshments?”

Outside the ship, in the meantime, the Lunar Spear completed its take-off preparations, and the hangar doors leading inside shut tight. As soon as they did, another set of doors opposite those opened, letting in a flood of seawater that filled the entire hangar in mere seconds. The Lunar Spear’s engine sprung to life, and it gently set off through the water into a small tunnel just beyond before coming out under the ocean proper. It surfaced a moment later before making its way south, towards the horizon-spanning storm cloud that was the Belt of Tranquility, keeping its pace slow as it began flying parallel to the storm.

A hatch opened on the top of the ship, and a pegasus stallion and unicorn mare dressed in a flight suits similar to Flame Strike’s climbed outside. As they did, two panels on the sides of the ships folded open to form a pair of wing-like extensions, the undersides of which glowed with the same bright blue as the rear engine. 

The unicorn strut over to a cylindrical device dead-center on the ship’s roof and pulled a small rectangular device out of it, which she stretched out into a belt-like band. She strapped the band around the pegasus’s midsection with a snap, then pulled two cords from it which she attached to the tips of his wings, letting them snap into place to follow the contours of his wings as he moved them. Then, with a nod, she descended back into the ship while the pegasus took off.

The pegasus flew loops around the Lunar Spear at a quick, precise pace, and as he did so the ship became slowly coated with a golden glow. It took him nearly thirty minutes of consistent flight before the glow solidified into an energy field that surrounded the ship, at which point he landed back on the roof and descended back into the ship, woozy and with a slight stagger in his step. As soon as he did, the Lunar Spear rocketed southwards towards the storm clouds at supersonic speed; nopony inside the ship could feel the effects of such a powerful acceleration, aside from just the slightest trembling of glasses of water on food trays. 

The Lunar Spear reached the storm, a storm unlike any other that had ever existed before and would ever exist again. The clouds flickered with lightning that crackled outwards towards the Lunar Spear the second it entered the storm, not at random but with sinister, violent intent. The lighting arched against the energy field that surrounded the Lunar Spear, but could not pierce it. Deeper still within the storm were great pillars of fire, spiraling about like wicked whirlwinds that snaked through the air to bar the Lunar Spear’s path. The Lunar Spear barreled through them without a care; the flames licked its shield to no effect.

This was the power of the patented Diffusion System, invented and perfected by Briarpatch, a genius pilot and inventor and a close friend of King Flashfire and Solarian. Briarpatch and Solarian had worked together to make the defense shield used by the massive NPAF cruisers more feasible for smaller-scale ships, like the Lunar Spear, for use with crossing the Belt. And though Briarpatch never left New Pandemonium City alive, his work had been a major contributing factor in Hope’s Point’s prosperity and success for decades. Thanks to its shield, the Lunar Spear could cross the uncrossable unscathed; the shield could even withstand heavy weapon fire. 

Within the ship, not a single pony had a care in the world about the raging horrors outside.

*****

It was early evening when the Lunar Spear crossed to the other side of the Belt and soared over what the southern ponies called the Sea of Hope. As tradition dictated, the Lunar Spear lowered its protective plating to let its passengers and crew see outside and get a good look at the southern lands in all their glory. Blackburn and Gadget had never been in person, and so flocked to the windows to gawk at the landscape below; Crossfire smirked as he took his time to join them - this was his homeland, after all, and he knew it well.

The southern continent of Utopia was as far separated from the miserable northern continent as possible, not just in distance but in essence. Up north, ponies could not see the real sky above them, choked as it was with an endless orange darkness that flowed from New Pandemonium City’s central tower. The earth of the Wasteland was rotten and barren, and the only life that existed there naturally were the monstrous Gargantuans, amalgamous insects of massive size with a disposition for violence. Other than Pandemonium, Hope’s Point was the only settlement capable of sustaining itself in such a harsh environment.

The Utopian continent, however, lived up to its name. The sky above was clear to see, and in this early evening the stars twinkled with splendor as Equestria’s twin moons drifted slowly through the cosmos. The earth was full of life and vigor: fields of green grass stretched as far as the eye could see across flat grasslands and gentle hills; trees dotted the landscape, and if they were not asleep it would be easy to see the plentiful birds and animals that called the countryside their home. Paradise.

The Lunar Spear approached the town of Newhaven, a settlement poised on the northernmost cliff of this southern continent. It was nowhere near the size of Hope’s Point, only large enough to be home to about a thousand or so ponies. The architecture was delightfully old-fashioned: wood and brick buildings, simple dirt roads, everything built far enough apart to give them room to breathe. Unlike the bustling nightlife of Hope’s Point, the town was the picture of tranquility; only a few dozen ponies walked the streets, most probably workers finishing up their jobs for the day before returning home to their families.

The port itself was a different story. It was about as advanced as Hope’s Point was, though still with a distinct old-fashioned charm to it despite the technological wonders. There were a number of large circular buildings, one of which had an open roof revealing a landing pad. The other similar buildings were clearly capable of opening their roofs to reveal additional such pads. A small central structure stood in the middle of the collection of landing pads, the Hope’s Point Embassy; there were plans to expand it eventually but those plans were on hold for now.

The Lunar Spear began its landing procedure, positioning itself over the open landing pad and slowly lowering itself down to ground level. It landed with a hiss and a thud, and the engines gradually died down to nothing.

Inside the ship, Cadet Rollerblade stepped out into the passenger area. “Fillies and gentlecolts, we have now arrived in Newhaven. Before disembarking, please return your seats to their original upright positions and ensure any valuables you’ve brought on board are in your possession.” He opened the boarding ramp. “Thank you again for choosing the Lunar Spear as your choice in transport, and have a pleasant stay.”

Blackburn, Gadget, and Crossfire did as they were asked and walked to the boarding ramp to disembark. As they descended, they saw that they already had a welcoming party in the form of Ambassador Concord himself. He bowed low as the trio descended the ramp; Blackburn gave him a nod when she reached the bottom. As they spoke, a small crew moved to retrieve their luggage from the Lunar Spear and load it onto a cart for them; Gadget and Crossfire were quick to shoo them off and collect the luggage themselves.

“Princess Blackburn, it is an honor to be able to receive you on your first visit to Newhaven,” Concord said with a smile. “I understand you’re here on vacation? This was all very sudden so we’re a little short on details.”

“Correct, Ambassador. Not expecting such a welcome,” Blackburn replied. “Needed to get away. Decided Utopia ideal.”

“And you weren’t wrong, Princess, the southern continent is a lovely vacation destination, perfect to relax and step back from whatever it is that ails you.” Concord gestured for her to follow him. “Come, we’ve already made arrangements for your stay.”

Blackburn nodded appreciatively as she followed, Gadget and Crossfire behind her. “Excellent. Convenient, saves us time. Well done, Concord.”

Concord looked at her with wide eyes, his lip quivering slightly. “Thank you, Princess.” He cleared his throat as he led the trio from the hangar into the terminal. “I don’t know what your plans are for the evening, so I took the liberty of having transportation arranged to take you to where you’ll be staying.”

Blackburn glanced back at Gadget on Crossfire in slight disbelief. She didn’t know Concord well personally since he spent almost all of his time here, her only interaction with him lately being listening to his voice over Solarian’s recordings, and he usually kept to himself in the Council meetings since King Stormchaser gave him a lot of autonomy. She didn’t realize he was so efficient and effective at his work.

Concord led them outside the terminal where they were greeted by a pair of earth pony stallions dressed in presentable clothes, and a chariot large enough to carry three plus luggage. Gadget and Crossfire loaded the luggage inside and waited for Blackburn to board before they did. 

Blackburn turned to Concord and nodded again. “Thank you again, Concord. Will remember your effectiveness.”

Concord bowed low. “And thank you for the praise, Princess. It may be my duty to serve, but I also consider it my calling. Enjoy your stay here in Newhaven!”

Blackburn hopped up into the chariot, and Gadget and Crossfire did the same on either side of her. One of the two earth ponies - golden yellow with a brown mane - pulling the chariot turned around and gave her a polite nod. “It’s a pleasure ta have ya, Princess, ma’am. Y’all hang tight back there an’ we’ll have ya ta yer destination lickity split.” He reared his front legs briefly. “Hya!”

The two stallions sprung into a gallop, pulling the chariot along the dirt road that led from the port into the town itself. They wound their way through a few streets until, at last, they arrived at a large house near the western outskirts of town, looking more like a familial home than any sort of hotel. Blackburn turned to Gadget, then to Crossfire, to see if either of them found it as unexpected as she did; naturally, they did, moreso actually.

As the chariot drivers came to a stop, the one who’d spoken earlier turned back again and with a smile said, “And here we are!”

Gadget and Crossfire disembarked and withdrew their luggage, leaving Blackburn just to stare at the house in confusion. “This is our destination?”

“Yes ma’am!”

“Hmm…” She disembarked as well, then turned to the stallions. “Thank you.”

“No problem, Princess! It was a pleasure.” He reared up again. “Hya!” And the chariot drivers drove away, leaving a very confused Blackburn, Gadget, and Crossfire behind.

Then, before Blackburn could turn around and try to process anything further, a voice came from behind. “Right on time! Long time no see, Princess.”

Blackburn’s ears perked up and she turned around. She knew the voice anywhere. “Shining Steel?”

Shining Steel indeed stood behind them, still as tall and robust as ever, but no longer dressed in his old armor. He wore little, just a purple scarf trimmed with gold, the same colors as his shield-and-sword cutie mark, respectively. Blackburn trotted up to him, perplexed but glad to see him; he was quick to give her a slight bow, which she returned with a nod.

Blackburn took a moment to process everything, then cleared her throat. “Shining Steel, moved to southern continent after... passing of King Flashfire. No, ‘retired’ more apt. No longer employed by Hope’s Point in any capacity.” She looked at the home behind him. “You live here.”

“Of course, of course,” Shining said with a couple of nods, then gestured prously to the house. “This here is the ol’ abode. Built it with my own hooves, with the help of the locals of course, and me and the family have been living here ever since… since Flashfire passed. It’s beautiful down here, Princess, a wonderful place to raise a family.”

“Agreed.” She took a breath. “Ambassador Concord arranged stay with you, not hotel. Hmm… you insisted.”

Shining gave her a little grin. “Naturally. I might not be with Hope’s Point officially anymore, but Concord knows my history and seeks me out for advice every now and then. So naturally, not knowing you too well besides rumors and such, he came looking for me when he heard you were coming. I offered to take you in while you’re here in the south.”

Blackburn shared a brief look with Gadget. “Appreciate it, Shining. Needed vacation. Pleasure to spend it with an old friend.”

Shining gestured for the trio to follow him inside. “Let’s take this indoors, guys. No sense standing out in the chilly night air. Here, let me help you with your bags.” With his magic he was easily able to lift all three suitcases as he trotted for the front door. The trio followed and entered the house after him.

The inside of the house was a simple but comfortable affair, with plenty of room to move around and few decorations. Shining set the suitcases down and called up, “Honey! Our guests are here!”

“Coming!” called back Paramour, his wife.

“Make yourselves at home,” Shining said to Blackburn. “We’ll get you guys to your rooms in a little bit. Anypony hungry? I’ve got snacks in the kitchen.”

“No, thank you. Dined on the ride over,” Blackburn noted. “Lunar Spear has excellent meal service.”

“The Lunar Spear, huh? Good choice, good choice. Still captained by Flame Strike?”

“Yes.”

“She was a good mare, very forward-thinking. Her wife owned that scarf shop on Eighth Street, right?”

Blackburn was impressed. “Correct. Good memory.”

Shining smirked. “Thanks, Princess, I try. Learned a lot from your grandfather on keeping a keen eye on things. Never know when you’re gonna need a little bit of information somewhere.”

“Hmm… quite.”

A moment later, Paramour came downstairs and greeted the new arrivals. “Hi! It’s so good to have you here, Princess,” she said with a small bow.

Paramour was a hot-pink pegasus mare with a luxurious golden mane that she wore long and wavy. Like Shining she wasn’t dressed in much, just a silver bracelet around her left foreleg. Nopony was bothered by it; Utopian culture did not have the same stigma about nudity that the northern continent seemed to have, but for some reason the stigma only applied to ponies still living in the north. Nopony really knew why either side was the way it was or which was really the “original” belief, but nopony cared, either.

“A pleasure,” Blackburn replied with a nod.

Another set of hoofsteps came from the stairs, accompanying a young unicorn filly. Her coat was soft pink, somewhere in-between the colors of her parents, and her mane was curly and purple and tied with a floral ribbon. She took the stairs slowly, one at a time, but eventually reached the bottom.

Paramour immediately scooped her up and nuzzled her cheek, earning an annoyed grunt from the filly. “Mamaaa! Stooop! You’re embarrassing me!” she squealed as she tried to push herself out of her mother’s grip to no avail.

Paramour laughed and set her daughter down, then turned to Blackburn. “You never got to meet her after she was born, but this is our daughter, Crystal Heart. Crystal honey, say hello to Princess Blackburn.”

Crystal’s eyes widened and filled with stars, her jaw dropping in stunned awe. “Princess?” she gasped. “You’re a princess?”

Blackburn smiled and nodded. “I am. Nice to meet you, Crystal Heart.” She turned to Gadget and Crossfire, and introduced them as well. “And these are my friends, Gadget and Crossfire.”

Crystal, still aglow with wonder, stared at the two of them with the same awestruck expression. “You’re friends with a princess?”

Crossfire smiled brightly. “That we are, little missy. Best o’ friends.”

“Awesome! That is so cool!”

“It is, isn’t it? You know, it really never does get old thinking about how cool it is that we’re friends with royalty,” Gadget added with a grin. “I guess we are pretty amazing.”

They spent the evening getting reacquainted with one another, though everypony knew to keep less fun things off the table until Crystal went to bed. So, they talked about how neat it was to live in a big city, how cool it was to work around airships, and how fun it was to be friends together with royalty. When Crystal finally went to bed at Paramour’s insistence, Paramour did not come back downstairs, leaving Shining Steel an opportunity to speak with the trio alone at the kitchen table.

“How have things been since your father ascended?” Shining asked. “I’m afraid I don’t keep abreast of things up north that much these days, besides what Concord tells me of course.”

“Cannot say entirely negative,” Blackburn snorted. “Policies improved infrastructure. More ponies arriving from air routes than past decade. Increases population, boosts economy. However, no improvements to security measures, risk of infiltration and sabotage increased. Nothing major yet, does not eliminate possibility.”

Shining nodded and leaned back in his seat. “He did always have a good mind for business, your father. Terrible judge of character though.”

“Quite. Also, has prevented me from attending council meetings.”

“Really? Well… I can’t say I’m surprised. I remember well all the ‘harrumphs’ Flashfire got when he first had you start sitting in. Everypony came around eventually, but still… I don’t suppose anypony was on your side on that whole thing?”

“Most were, but father is king; his word is law,” she added with a sneer. “Have had help from Solarian. Keeps me informed.”

“Solarian is still on the council?” Shining asked, amazed. “I thought for sure your father would’ve booted him off by now. He hates him for giving you the… y’know.”

“Indeed; however, Solarian critical member of hierarchy, difficult to replace.” Blackburn sniffed. “Fears well founded. Evening Glitz replaced; replacement, Gleaming Star, complete imbecile. Skyrocket clearly inferior in position to mother. Featherfree easily intimidated, but means well. Nearly half of council in father’s corner. Solarian set to retire within next few years… prospect disheartening.”

“I’m sure you’ll figure something out. Your grandfather never let anypony forget how smart you are.” Shining yawned, then sat up in his chair. “Well, it’s late, Princess. Let’s get you all to your room.”

He took their suitcases upstairs and showed them to their guest room, a fair-sized room with two small beds and all the accoutrements they’d need to be comfortable for a long stay. After letting them become acquainted with it, he showed himself out and left them to their own business. None of them bothered to unpack, save for grooming materials; they wouldn’t be here long.

Gadget, however, voiced a concern: “Golly, this changes things a little bit, Blackburn, don’t you think? We were supposed to be staying in some teeny-tiny hotel that nopony would bother paying attention to. Crossfire had a couple all picked out and everything.”

“Yeah, ta be honest this kinda puts a big ol’ kibosh on us sneakin’ out all easy like when the Pandemonium shuttle comes tomorrow,” Crossfire agreed. “Don’t it?”

Blackburn stayed silent a moment, hoof to her chin in thought. Then, she shook her head. “Not at all. Not impediment: benefit.”

Gadget raised an eyebrow. “How do you figure?”

“Shining Steel loyal to grandfather unequivocally. Distaste for father is palpable. Would be likely ally in this: second secret-keeper.”

Crossfire scratched his head. “Hmmm… shucks, I mean, yeah I don’t doubt that he’d probably be on our side in all this hullabaloo, but are ya sure he will? I mean, I don’t disagree wit’ ya, but what if, instead of thinkin’ it’s a good idea what we’re doin’, he thinks he’s helpin’ us by stoppin’ us?”

Blackburn raised an eyebrow. “Explain.”

“Well, look, me ‘n’ Gadget’re loyal ta ya sure as water’s wet. The three o’ us’re thicker’n blood, I say. We’d do anythin’ and everythin’ for ya, ‘cause we know y’all’d do the same for us. Well, Shinin’ Steel was like that fer yer grandpappy, an’ y’all know yer grandpappy wanted nothin’ more’n keepin’ y’all safe ‘n ‘secure. S’why he gave us ta y’all.”

Blackburn pondered this. “Sensical… Shining might consider mission too dangerous. Might consider it favor to grandpa to keep us here.”

“And besides that,” Gadget interjected, “say he is on our side and doesn’t want to stop us. Solarian is our secret-keeper because he’s not just loyal, but he had a practical purpose: his database constructor. As much as I like Shining Steel, what’s he gonna be able to do to be of actual help? If he’s just keeping our secret I feel like, I dunno, we’re basically admitting we screwed up.”

Blackburn pondered this as well, then had an idea. “Practical purpose: not just keeping secret. Expanding it.”

“Huh?”

“Consider: Shining Steel is our host. We leave tomorrow night. Anypony comes asking for us, Shining Steel directs them away.”

“Hmm… that would make things easier on the return trip, I suppose.” Gadget nodded in approval. “Okay, you sold me: when we leave tomorrow, we tell him.”

“And if he don’t want ta let us leave?” Crossfire asked.

“Won’t happen,” Blackburn said. “Worries well-grounded, Crossfire. However, other possibility: knows grandpa risked everything to make Hope’s Point reality. Honoring his memory risking selves to prevent fall. Would encourage, not impede.”

Crossfire rubbed his chin. “Fair ‘nough. Worst case scenario, we make a break fer the port. Agreed?”

Blackburn smirked. “Agreed.”

*****

The next day was as relaxing and spontaneous as the trio could possibly hope it would be, a fine way to prepare themselves for the coming storm they had planned.

It started simple: breakfast with Shining Steel’s family followed by a brisk morning walk around town, with Crossfire being more than happy to point out all the sights. Everything a calm, quaint little town with no advanced technology could ever need was here: a library, a town square replete with shops, a blacksmith, a tailor, a bakery, a seed shop, a schoolhouse, etc. There were plenty of places to eat, and the ponies here were all friendly and cordial; the ponies in Hope’s Point were, too, especially compared to Pandemonium, but Newhaven’s populace were overtly so.

For lunch, as planned: Legume’s Legumes. Crossfire had said the restaurant specialized in making every single bean-related dish possible, and had listed them all off diligently before they even reached the restaurant:

“--bean soup, bean stew, bean salad, bean chili, bean paste, bean salsa, beans ‘n’ rice--”

“Kill me now, please,” Gadget said to Blackburn, passing her sidearm over. “Just flip the switch to ‘instant kill’ and end my life.”

“--bean tostada, bean burrito, bean curry, bean pasta, bean bowl, bean casserole, plus there’s succotash--”

Blackburn pushed the barrel of the gun towards herself. “No, you do me first. Royal order.”

“--an’ y’all can eat ‘em plain, roasted, fried, refried, steamed, grilled, baked--”

Gadget snorted. “Tell you what, if we get close enough I think we might be able to go out together.”

Blackburn hummed, then nodded. “Acceptable. Been nice knowing you, Gadget.”

“I can hear y’all back there!” Crossfire huffed, turning sharply to face them.

Gadget snickered and swiftly placed her weapon back under her hat. “I’m sorry, what? We weren’t saying anything Crossfire, no sir, just listening to your startling appreciation for all things beans.”

“Uh huh.” Crossfire narrowed his eyes, then turned back to the path and gestured ahead towards a quaint building with several tables set up outside for ponies to dine at. A sign above the awning read Legume’s Legumes. “Well make fun all ya want, we’re here. See how much fun y’all’re makin’ after y’all eat.”

Once at their table, the trio looked at their menus, and Gadget and Blackburn visibly gawked at the selection and realized Crossfire must have memorized it. Every manner of bean dish imaginable was presented and could be prepared with any of the different types of beans there were. Crossfire, knowing it would be a long while before he ever got back, insisted on the trio ordering one of everything on the menu to split amongst the table; they settled on less than that but still split a fair amount of food amongst one another, from spicy black bean soup to creamy green bean casserole. 

They ended up ordering too much and didn’t want to carry the leftovers around in doggy bags all day, but that was okay; the restaurant would deliver the leftovers to some of the dock workers to use for their own lunches if they didn’t have anything themselves. Blackburn marveled at the generosity and kindness these ponies showed one another for seemingly no reason whatsoever. The food was cheap, too.

Between lunch and dinner, the trio headed down the cliffs to the small beach that was there. While the cliffs of Hope’s Point were miles high, the cliffs of Newhaven were much less imposing, and a gentle trail sloped down the cliffside to give non-pegasi a viable route. The beach itself wasn’t very large, but more than enough to accommodate the three of them and the other few dozen ponies that had gathered to take in the afternoon sun. Crossfire, to Gadget and Blackburn’s slight embarrassment, took off his shirt while they were there, leaving him in the nude. 

“When in Utopia,” he said.

They weren’t really embarrassed because of his behavior, of course, since not a single other pony on the beach except the two of them were wearing clothes, but because neither of them had seen Crossfire without clothes before, at least in this context. Blackburn was already in a relationship and merely muttered something about him not needing to ever be worried about attracting a mare; this was true, as a gaggle of younger mares that were at the beach together took keen interest in him for their entire stay.

Gadget, who’d never looked at him that way before, and never thought she ever would, did her best not to stare; within an hour, she’d gotten over it enough to remember who he was and that there was no way she thought of him like that. It was odd, how just removing a shirt - the only item he wore down here - had such an impact on her mental state, one that neither her nor Blackburn could understand or explain.

“Whatever, okay, so my best friend is a total hunk,” she said with a shrug as she set her sun hat over her face and lay back in the sand. “Nothing weird about that, no sir. I’m mare enough to admit it. Just don’t go getting any ideas, Crossfire - you’re like a brother to me, nothing more.”

Crossfire blinked in her direction. “What kind o’ ideas?”

“Don’t play stupid, you know damn well what I’m talking about, you big drink of water. Same ideas you’re thinking about when looking at all those mares over there,” she added, pointing off towards the grouping of mares that were trying, unsuccessfully, to get his attention.

Crossfire glanced their way for only a second. “Uh… no? I really don’t get it.”

Gadget groaned and buried her face deeper into her hat. “Golly, you’re just a typical brainless stud, aren’t you? Nevermind, forget it. I’ve suddenly lost all interest.”

“Thought you had no interest,” Blackburn said cooly as she sipped on her lemonade.

“Bite me, Blackburn.”

Crossfire stared at the two for a minute, then shrugged and turned his attention back to the ocean.

Once the sun touched the horizon, the trio returned up the cliff - Crossfire with his shirt on at last, to Gadget’s relief - and went to a different restaurant for dinner, this one a sandwich shop of some acclaim, according to Crossfire. He hadn’t steered them wrong yet and this was no exception. Blackburn enjoyed the chef’s special, a peanut butter and banana sandwich, and found it to be uniquely and bizarrely exciting; Gadget stuck with a grilled cheese, a staple of hers when she got the opportunity, having developed an inexplicable fondness for cheese as a teen despite the distinct lack of it in the north; Crossfire kept it simple and ordered a BLT: beans, lettuce, and tomatoes. Everything was served with a side of hay fries.

Outside of special occasions, the trio never got much real food, only the Dolor food substitute - a goopy paste-like substance stored in a plastic tube - smuggled in from Pandemonium. Dolor tasted good when prepared in particular ways, and there were plenty of cooks and bakers in Hope’s Point that were skilled at making delectable dishes from the many different colors. 

Each color, incidentally, had a different “default” flavor when eaten straight: Red was overly ripe cherries; Green was overcooked broccoli; Yellow was extra-sour lemon; Orange was not-ripe-yet oranges; Purple was week-old blueberries; Blue was minty toothpaste; the new White was plain tart yogurt, but it was expensive; the original Brown was cheap and tasted like mud. There wasn’t a Black yet, but rumors were it was being worked on. However, when prepared certain ways, these flavors changed. Red, for example, could taste like tomato soup, chilled strawberries, raspberry jam, etc. 

After dinner, the trio returned to Shining Steel’s home and spent some time with him and his family before everypony went to sleep. Gadget kept a close eye on the time - they knew they’d need an hour to get to the port without a chariot, and gave themselves an extra fifteen minutes to account for delays. So, an hour and fifteen minutes before midnight, the trio got themselves dressed in casual, drab attire that would fit in in Pandemonium and styled their manes to match their false passports, then grabbed their stuff and, with the aid of a quieting spell from Gadget, snuck downstairs.

It didn’t really come as much of a surprise though when they got halfway to the front door and heard a cough. “Awfully late, don’t you think?” Shining Steel said he nonchalantly flipped the page of a newspaper from his spot on the couch. “Where are you three off to this time of night?”

Blackburn steeled herself. “The port. Flight departing for Pandemonium at midnight. We will be on it.”

“I see.” Shining set down his newspaper and drew forth their three falsified passports; the trio bristled at the sight of their entire plan’s success in his grasp, but Blackburn kept her cool. “And what exactly are you planning on doing in Pandemonium City, besides putting yourselves in unnecessary danger?”

“What father won’t.”

“Which is?”

“Keep my city safe.”

“And how are you going to do that?”

“Solarian’s database constructor: provides extensive background information, easier and quicker to verify ponies’ trustworthiness. Find rival smuggling kingpins, negotiate or destroy: improves Hope’s Point’s economy.” Blackburn took a deep breath. “Understand risks. Necessary.”

“For how long?”

“Four months. Enough time to lay groundwork, implant database constructor.”

“Hmm. I take it that means Solarian knows about this?”

“Correct.”

“Anypony else?”

“Just you.”

“Very good.” Shining shook his head. “Unfortunately, Princess, you, Gadget, and Crossfire aren’t going anywhere near New Pandemonium City.” 

Gadget made to step forward, but Blackburn stopped her with a hoof, allowing Shining to continue. 

“As your host for your vacation here in the south, the three of you are going to take me up on my offer to leave Newhaven with me, Paramour, and Crystal Heart tomorrow to take a vacation down to Deepgrove; Crystal loves gems, see, and those mines are the best source of gems in the whole world, outside of Goldridge Pass up north.”

Blackburn frowned. “Disappointing.”

“Chin up, Princess, Deepgrove is a lovely place. Might be good to talk with some of the mine leaders there, maybe get trade agreements set up. Certainly safer than scrounging around in Goldridge. Maybe you’ll stay for a while, who knows?”

Crossfire made to speak, but Blackburn gave him a terse look to keep him quiet. 

Shining Steel waited a long moment, then placed the three passports on the table in front of him before getting up and stepping over to Blackburn directly. “However, I think that Thunderbolt, Tinker, and Fireblast have a flight to catch. I wouldn’t want to keep them,” he said with a coy grin. 

Blackburn smiled back and stepped forward to give her grandfather’s former bodyguard a hug. “Thank you, Shining. Will make grandpa proud, I swear it.”

Shining returned the hug. “I know you will, Princess. Stay safe, and good luck. You’ll need it.” He broke the hug and made for the stairs without another word.

*****

Blackburn, Gadget, and Crossfire - or rather, Thunderbolt, Tinker, and Fireblast - arrived at the port at ten minutes ‘til midnight. A transport cruiser from New Pandemonium City was docked at the port, and it was a completely different sight than the Lunar Spear had been. 

The cruiser was black like the Lunar Spear and trimmed with steel instead of gold, but it lacked the sleek contours and pleasing aesthetic the Hope’s Point airships did. It was more of a brick with points on the ends, and its wings folded up straight into the air like handles while grounded. Its metal exterior was charred and rusty instead of polished to a pristine shine. While the Lunar Spear, already a larger ship in Hope’s Point’s fleet, took up barely a third of the landing pad, this Pandemonium ship took up nearly the entire thing.

The crew, in particular, was different from the lively, polite crew of the Lunar Spear. They didn’t wear flight suits, just standard black and gold flight uniforms. One, a dull green pegasus stallion with a black mane, stood at the top of the boarding ramp, a tremendous scowl on his face as he ushered ponies in without a word; the other, a dust-gray unicorn mare with a pale pink mane, stood at the bottom and looked over the tickets and passports of the other ponies boarding, all of whom were dressed similarly to Blackburn’s crew in drab, casual clothes. The unicorn also looked over their belongings, but she lacked a tool to do so with and just used her eyes and hooves. There were no crew members loading luggage onto the ship; everypony carried it on themselves.

When it was their turn at last, Blackburn approached first and showed her ticket and passport to the unicorn mare. 

The mare looked over the ticket and passport, grunted, then gestured at Blackburn’s suitcase. “Open it please,” she said in a near monotone. 

Blackburn did so without a word. The mare looked through her stuff in the span of about ten seconds, then Blackburn was allowed to pack up and board. Gadget and Crossfire went through the same process, and soon all three were aboard the craft. No problems so far.

Inside, it was clear that this was not a luxury liner like the Lunar Spear had been. The seats were cramped together and couldn’t recline; the windows were small portholes barely big enough to see out of; there was no viewscreen with which to watch entertainment; the entire interior smelled of week-old body odor. Luckily the craft wasn’t full, so the trio were able to sit together in relative comfort. When at last midnight rolled around, the crew boarded and without a word from them, the ship lurched into the air and set off north, unfolding its wings as it did.

Unlike the Lunar Spear, it didn’t have to wait for anypony to activate a shield around it and did it completely on its own. As a consequence of this cheaper version of the Diffusion System, however, the ship was not quite as impenetrable, and thus the ride wasn’t as smooth and took much longer. There was no danger, of course, because having a faulty shield cause deaths deprived the city of taxpaying ponies and that was unacceptable. 

However, the shield wasn’t entirely stable, so there was a lot of turbulence. Blackburn, as a pegasus, was used to the feeling and wasn’t bothered at all; Crossfire, who had a strong stomach and nerves of steel, merely gripped his armrests tight; Gadget, however, spent most of the three-hour-long trip across the Belt of Tranquility with her face buried in a paper bag.

When at last they reached the other side, the ship was allowed to open up the throttle again, making the rest of the way to New Pandemonium City in only a few hours. Blackburn, who'd insisted on the window seat, was able to get a semi-decent view through the too-small, dust-caked window.

New Pandemonium City encircled Equestria’s north pole, spreading out for hundreds of miles into the surrounding Wastelands. A large barrier wall, a mile high construct of solid durasteel, surrounded the city; spread along the wall were small platforms containing large gun turrets, and several of them tracked the transport cruiser as it approached. At the southwesern edge of the city was a large gate, taller than the walls around it, connected to a passage that led inside. There was a clear set of airdocks inside the outermost wall beside the gate, and it was these docks that the cruiser made a beeline for.

The buildings within the city were mostly tall, black structures, or at least it seemed that way from a distance. They were sleek and imposing, casting looming shadows on the city below. The city sky was choked with layer upon layer of smog and dark clouds; not an inch of the city’s airspace, save for the sections closest to the gate and sections closest to the center, was unclogged, and those that weren’t still had faint layers leaking over. From the air it was near impossible to get a good read on the city’s layout; it wasn’t any easier on the ground, for that matter.

Most striking was the city’s absolute center where there stood the massive Pandora Tower, poised directly on the north pole. It was a gleaming black monolith that towered above even the layers of smog. From the top of the tower came a piercing orange light that flowed straight up into the air above, spreading out across the entire sky as far as the eye could see. Having seen the southern continent with her own eyes, Blackburn wondered if the same sky could be seen above that orange light, or if anything could even pass through it. Nopony knew what it was, why Pandora Tower generated it, or what it did; the question had gone unanswered for centuries.

Blackburn settled back into her seat and took a deep breath to calm her nerves as the ship began its landing procedure. They were finally here. New Pandemonium City.

It was time to make a difference.


End file.
